


The Girl Who Sculpts

by of_rivers_and_moons



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Armin is confused, Attack on Titan 2 Protagonist exists, Background Slow Burn, Badass Eren Jeager, Big Bro Eren Jeager, Eren 'Freedom' Jeager, Eren 'Murder is okay' Jeager, Eren Can Cook, Eren likes to throw knives, Eren will act like Frieda at times, In this house we love and appreciate Erwin Smith, Mama Eren is best Eren, Mikasa wants some sleep, Multi, Paths, Upped to Teen, Will take requests for chapter ideas, Ymir is adorable and did not deserve anything bad, because why not, but a bit downplayed, he is named Kare Milesworth, hehe, maybe some crack, which was slightly inspired by Homestyle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 45,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25363150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/of_rivers_and_moons/pseuds/of_rivers_and_moons
Summary: Eren has been acting strange lately, more reserved, more quiet, more calmer.Did it have to do with the incident during dinner time where he had accidentally touched Krista?Or: When Eren finds Founder Ymir, the results are him becoming a big brother, Historia remembering Frieda, and a few changes.
Relationships: Armin Arlert & Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Jeager & Armin Arlert, Eren Jeager & Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Jeager & Ymir Fritz, Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Possible Mikasa Ackerman/Annie Leonhart, minor Attack on Titan 2 Protagonist/Eren Jeager
Comments: 137
Kudos: 421





	1. When Eren Acts Strange and becomes a Big Bro

Eren stayed on the floor, not moving. He heard voices, but he wasn't focused on them. He moved his head up, and looked at Krista with a haunted look in his eyes. 

She stared back.

Ymir was yelling at him, but he didn't care. His mind was only on one thing. That little girl he saw, with that strange soil underneath them. A never ending tree.

He needed to see her again.

* * *

His wish was granted.

He dreamt that he was in that strange place again. But it wasn't a dream at the same time. It was real. 

The girl was moving her hands up and down on a piece of soil, her hands carefully making a arm. 

Eren tilted his head and sat down, watching as she did so. He began to admire her work, she had clearly done this before.

_She had clearly done this before._

That thought made him freeze.

How long has she been doing this that it can practically be life-like? How long was she here for? He looked up at the tree, maybe the branches counted how many years she has been in this place?

No, impossible. Trees don't work like that.

Then what did it mean?

He looked back at the girl, who had stopped sculpting the arm. It steamed away, then she just sat there.

Wait. . . steamed?

"What's your name?"

The girl was silent for a moment before carefully using her finger and carving a few letters into the soil.

**Ymir**.

She had the same name as _her_.

"Are your parents here with you?"

**No**.

No child should be left unsupervised, not even left alone so why the actual name in Fritz—

"Do you have parents?"

**No**.

"W-Where are they?"

**Dead**.

So her parents were dead? Did they live here with her before dying? Why was she the only one here?

"How long have you been here for?"

The carved words made him freeze.

**2000** **years**.

* * *

"Have you noticed that Eren's been acting strangely?"

Jean looked up at Kare, who was staring at Eren. Said brunette was sparing with Reiner. But there was a faraway look in his eyes, as if he didn't care what was happening.

"Now that you mention it, yeah. But why are you concerned for that suicidal blockhead?"

Kare tripped him and pinned him down using his leg. He looked back at them both to see that Eren had almost broke Reiner's back and was now profusely apologizing to him. But Reiner was Reiner, and he had just laughed it off.

"Because when people don't act like themselves, it always means that something is up. He isn't acting like his — as you put it — 'Suicidal Blockhead' self. He's been more quiet, more reserved and that fuse that's always on fire had seemed to dim."

Reiner now had Eren pinned down, but Eren performed an armbar and forcefully pushed Reiner on the ground using it. He was now on top of him, holding his arm and almost ripping it off.

* * *

Reiner began to pat the ground, "Eren, Eren! Let- go!"

But Eren wasn't listening. He was going to rip his arm out of his socket at this point—

Reiner sighed in relief as Bertolt dragged Eren away, almost immediately, the light in the brunettes eyes and returned. 

"Hey, I know that this is combat training, but try not to rip off my arm, Okay?" Bertolt looked at him in concern, while Eren had a puzzled look on his face.

"What do you mean?"

Okay, he really wasn't acting like his usual self.

"You— you almost ripped my arm off while doing that armbar?"

"I did!? I'm sorry—"

Reiner laughed, "There isn't any need to apologize for, then again, you have been acting strange lately. What's up with that?"

"Nothing. I've just had a lot on my mind."

"Care to share?"

"No."

This Eren was blunt, more reserved and quiet.

Reiner frowned.

What was up with him?


	2. In Which Eren Learns to Sign and Teaches Ymir

The blonde looked up to his friend, who currently was eating some bread that he (Eren) had baked out of boredom and practice. Armin held his hand out, which Eren quietly gave him some of the rye bread.

  
"Do you know sign language?"

  
That was out of the blue.

  
"Kind of. Why do you want to know?" Armin took a bite and sighed as the sweet taste of the bread filled his mouth. He chewed slowly, wanting to savour it.

  
"I wanna learn it."

  
Reluctantly swallowing the bread, Armin spoke again, "Why?"

  
"Well, what if we need to something that doesn't involve Titans? Like infiltration or something. We could use sign in order to communicate." Eren lied carefully, brush a strand of hair back.

  
"Why would we need to do that?"

  
"Well— just in case right?" Eren offered his best friend a smile, a genuine one. At least, what it seemed to be.

  
"Well, alright then."

  
Armin never noticed that Eren's ears were red.

* * *

  
"Ymir!"

  
Ymir turned her head from the small cat she made to see Eren back. He waves at her, and she waved back. 

  
He sat down at her level, "Okay, so, my friend taught me some sign language so I think I'll be able to teach you some, since writing in the soil would be long."

  
 **Sand**.

  
"Huh?"

  
**This is sand.**

  
"Okay, sand. Anyway, this means. . ."

  
They do this until Eren is forced to wake up.

* * *

  
Jean was bragging about getting into the Military Police. Kare had whispered that it was about the 60th time. Eren looked very tired.

  
Suddenly, a smile came on Eren's face before he suddenly began to move his hands swiftly in different positions. Sometimes he put his hands on his body, and sometimes he pointed at Jean.

  
Everyone was silent except for Armin and Mikasa. The former who vocalized his displeasure, and the latter who covered her mouth to try and stifle the sounds coming out.

  
"Eren! You can't just say that!" He whispered. 

  
The brunette looked back at the blonde, smirked, and moved his hands once again. This time, Armin blinked and nodded in understanding before saying, "Continue."

  
Eren looked at Jean from the corner of his eye. He began to move his hands once again. Then he made a bull with one hand, placed it on his head, then used his other to make it seem like he had dropped something. Then he continued for a bit before smiling and continuing to eat.

  
Armin choked.

  
_You know, Jean should be more like a bull. That way, Jean spouting bullshit would make more sense._

  
Currently, he regrets teaching Eren sign language. Excluding Mikasa, who didn't care at all.

  
Armin regrets teaching her as well.

* * *

  
He met Ymir again like he always did. This time, she was building a very large cat.

  
"Ymir,"

  
She looked at him.

  
"Why is it so big?"

  
 _I'm practicing_. She signed. 

  
He was silent. Then he began to join her. 

It was then Eren realized he liked sculpting.


	3. In Which Eren Plays Matchmaker With Ymir's Help

Mikasa noticed that he was protective of Krista.

  
A lot.

  
It wasn't out of romantic love, nor was it out of cadet-to-cadet. He acted like a big brother to her. While he did treat Mikasa nicer, 'Big Bro Eren' seemed to come out whenever he felt like Krista was in danger.

  
A few instances being. . .

* * *

  
Reiner was flirting with Krista.

  
Eren kicked him in the face like Annie.

* * *

  
Krista got attacked by a bear, she didn't get any major injures, but the bear did.

  
The bear never saw Eren coming at him with knives.

* * *

  
Krista tripped and fell on a few stones placed by raccoons.

  
Eren reacted accordingly. By that, he means finding and slaughtering said Raccoons and cooking and eating them.

* * *

So yeah.

  
Recently, he has been looking at Ymir, a smirk on his face. 

  
When Mikasa asked what was up, Eren replied.

  
"Ymir thinks that Krista is cute, but she won't admit it, you see? It's also pretty obvious that Krista likes her, so why not push 'em?"

  
Thus, began Eren's plan.

* * *

  
He was with Ymir again, in the Paths I mean.

  
She, to, had helped him out with the several instances so that Krista and Ymir would, in fact, get together. It was pretty darn obvious.

  
Despite her shyness, Ymir was devious. And Eren could work with that.

* * *

  
Eren managed to cut away the rope Krista was climbing on thanks to a knife he threw. It also had thread attached to the knife, so he could get it back without worry. 

  
Krista screamed as she fell down, Eren quickly playing along, "Krista!"

  
As expected, Ymir came swooping in and and catching her. Krista began to thank and hug her, all while Ymir was blushing.

  
All according to Keikaku.

* * *

  
The next instance was at dinner time. With a quick movement of his wrist, Eren sent a plate of food flying to Krista.

  
Ymir, of course, pushed her out of the way.

  
Eren cleaned up the mess.

  
All according to Keikaku.

* * *

  
"Eren,"

  
He looked up and saw Mikasa, hands on her hips.

  
"Eren, I think your going a bit to far with this 'matchmaking' of yours."

  
"What do you mean?" He got up for, his sitting position outside of the barracks, "It going perfectly fine. Ymir and Krista are actually hanging around each other more. I even overheard Krista saying that she likes Ymir more as a friend!"

  
"You stalked her?"

  
"No, I was just walking around and saw her talking to herself."

  
"Eren, please—"

  
"Nope! They are going to realize their feelings for each other, even if I have to make more plans to do so!"

  
All according to Keikaku.

* * *

  
They FINALLY got together.

  
It was short, sweet, and simple. 

  
But they finally did it.

  
Ymir (from the paths) had actually jumped in joy when she heard the news. In fact, she made a small statue of both of them that didn't steam away! 

  
All according to Keikaku.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frieda probably influenced Eren.


	4. In Which Eren Gets Long Hair and Historia Remembers

Eren had grown his hair out.

  
Heck, he didn't even NOTICED that he grew his hair out! Everyone else noticed, though. They thought that he would notice if he had grown in out. He didn't.

  
Eren had also finally noticed when he couldn't see from the corner of his eye due to his newfound long ass hair. Also because of an accident that went like. . .

* * *

  
They were having ODM gear training, normal training of course.

  
They weren't slaying fake Titan's, they were just flying around to get better at it. Eren had been flying around when his hair got tangled because of the wires. He was screaming in pain as he attempted to get it loose to no avail. Then, he was going downward.

  
Kare had immediately flew by and grabbed him. He carefully held Eren's handles and retracted the wires before stopping at a tree. Eren had begun to untangle his hair.

  
"I'll be honest, I never knew my hair got long."

* * *

  
Eren had promised to cut it. He never did. It has grown a bit past his shoulders at this point.

  
It was a minor change in his appearance, yet it meant everything to Krista. The blonde was looking at Eren strangely, even mistaking him for a girl at times. Most of all, she had accidentally called him 'Big Sis' sometimes.

* * *

  
Eren had given Krista her hair clip and had helped styled her hair. She smiled up at him — a genuine smile, not the one that usually wore — and said loudly and proudly, "Thank you, Big Sis!"

  
Everyone comically froze. Mikasa in turn, had actually tripped and fall flat on her face. Ignoring the sister comment, Eren had run up to Mikasa and was now fussing over her.

  
"Krista," Kare spoke out, "Eren isn't Big Sis. It's mom."

  
Kare had managed to dodge a throwing knife from Eren that came his way.

* * *

  
He had also dotted on Mikasa a bit more often. Asking her if she had gotten enough sleep and warning her not to overwork herself. He also patted her head and told her not to worry, she would cherish her as a sister even more.

  
Mikasa was usually shown with and actual smile after that.

* * *

  
Eren sat down, humming as Ymir styled his hair carefully. The girl had somehow got out a green ribbon to match his eyes. She also somehow produced a comb.

  
How did she do it? Eren never knew. 

  
She had grabbed two strands of his hair and pulled them back carefully as to not hurt him. After a few minutes, she was done. She grabbed her bucket and produced water made from the sand.

  
Eren took a good look at himself. Ymir had done really well! 

  
This wasn't something to make her feel better, she had actually done well. She had told him before that she had some hair experience, but he didn't know it went this far!

  
He hugged Ymir and laughed as he thanked her. 

* * *

  
The style was there when he woke up. He also woke up before everyone else, so that means he could just play it off as styling his hair.

  
He quickly put on his uniform and waited for the others to wake up so that they could go to the mess hall to eat. 

  
"Wow,"

  
Startled, Eren took out a throwing knife and positioned it. It was just Kare, who held his hands up.

  
"Sorry for startling you," Eren took the apology and placed the knife back where it was. Where it was? He didn't know.

  
"It's just that your kind of beautiful with your hair like that!"

  
Eren had a blush on his face the whole day.

* * *

  
Historia Reiss was a unwanted girl who just wanted to survive. She didn't want to look after anyone, she only wanted to look after herself and Ymir.

  
Krista Lenz was a good girl. She cared for everyone and everything. She would put herself in danger to save others. 

  
Recently, she remembered someone. Someone important. Someone that cared for her equally as much Ymir and Eren did.

  
Her big sister, Frieda.

  
Eren's looks triggered her memory.

  
Not to mention he acted like her at times as well. One time being that he had told her to be herself.

* * *

  
"No!"

  
Historia looked up at Eren in surprise. She had told him that she should probably be more like Mikasa or Annie in terms of personality.

  
Eren coughed into his hand, "I– I mean you shouldn't act like anyone else. If you act like anyone else, then that isn't you. You should be yourself, Kirsta."

  
Be yourself?

  
How ironic.

  
Krista Lenz was a good girl, she was just a mask. 

  
She never knew that he meant for her to drop her facade.

* * *

  
He had come into the mess hall, a smile on his face. His hair styled back — Frieda would sometimes have that hairstyle — as he talked and ate, acting like a Big Brother or Mother to them.

  
Historia could barely see Eren Jeager.

  
She could only see Frieda Reiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited what Eren looks like before Ymir styled his hair and after Ymir styled his hair but how do you even insert pictures in ao3???


	5. Distress (AKA never mess with an Angry Eren)

Only a bit of Frieda Reiss still existed inside of Eren Jaeger. She projected her love for Historia onto him, so that he would keep on protecting her in her stead. Frieda would always be with her sister and protect her.

Always.

* * *

"There!" Sasha cried.

  
In front of her was a lizard. 

  
"If you cut it up and cook it, it tastes like chicken!" At the word 'chicken', Jean ran forward and sliced the back open with his sword. Eren sighed, "Do we really need to spend time eating and cooking it?"

  
Sasha looked at Eren, her best puppy eyes on her face, "Eren. . . hey. . . c'mon! I know you wanna cook for us—" Eren's cooking was the best. It wasn't an exaggeration, it wasn't a statement either, it was a fact.

  
Eren's response?

  
"No."

* * *

  
It was night now, almost everyone was sleeping except for Historia, who sat down by a lake. She stared into the water and thought,

  
'Who am I? Am I supposed to be Krista Lenz? Or should I be who I really am just like Eren said? And who do I see Eren as? My sister? Or as Eren?'

  
She couldn't help it. Almost every time when she saw Eren, she always saw Frieda. She didn't see the hotheaded, impulsive, turned mellow and motherly Eren. She saw her sister, the one who loved her, the one her cared for her, the one who taught her everything she knows.

  
And she hates herself for it.

  
She shouldn't project Frieda onto Eren, but it was hard with him looking like that, with him acting like her, with him being a big brother to Historia, with his new long hair.

  
She didn't know bandits were creeping up behind her until she screamed.

* * *

  
Eren stood there, trembling. He stared at the bandits who had kidnapped Krista and had spooked off their horses. He had a few knives in his sleeves, covered in bandages but could be pulled off quickly. 

  
He could kill them right here and right now but. . .

  
Krista was held at gunpoint, a knife also at her neck. She looked on worryingly — it wasn't fake this time. It was sincere — at all of them.

  
'Is it worth it?"

  
Eren began to carefully shuffling one throwing knife down. When it was near his hand, he froze. 

  
'Is it worth it? Killing all of them? At the cost of Krista?'

  
He could easily kill the guy that dare hold a gun and knife to the blondes neck. But almost every bandit also had a gun. They could just shoot her, and they would be helpless as Krista bled out to death.

  
It wasn't worth it.

  
Eren watched helplessly as they dragged Krista away.

* * *

  
"I want to save her. I want to save Krista,"

  
Marco shook his head, "They said that they would let her go en route—"

  
Eren hurled a knife towards him, which Marco dodged quickly. Looking at Eren in fear, Jean, Armin, Connie, and Sasha stood by. Eren collected the knife he had thrown and looked at Marco.

  
"They're liars. It takes a liar to spot a liar, Marco, and even if the Military Police arrive and actually do their job," Jean was offended at that moment, "It would be too late. They would be long gone out of the forest."

  
"You say as if you experienced this!" Connie yelled out.

  
Eren looked at the other cadet, "Oh, trust me, I've experienced this before."

  
Armin shivered, remembering what Grisha told him about what actually conspired that night when Mikasa was taken in by the Jeagers. Eren had known that the Military Police wouldn't be able to get there in time, so he had tracked and killed the kidnappers with Mikasa.

  
Jean finally spoke up, "Are you that suicidal? Your—" he didn't get to finish as Eren performed a roundhouse kick and sent him into a tree. Jean yelped in pain as he got a bruise on his cheek.

  
"I'm. Not. Suicidal. Kirschtein. I just wanna save Krista before its too late. The Police barely do anything anyway, they just sit down and drink all day. So you ether help me, or I do it and kill the bandits myself."

* * *

  
Eren wounded up having help from the others.

  
Their plan had worked, meaning that they got their ODM gear back. Eren, however, had different plans when he got his gear back.

  
"Stay here," he ordered to everyone else.

  
"But—" Marco attempted to protest. Eren's eyes flashed — a beautiful purple — as he once again ordered, "Stay. Here." 

  
They all felt compelled to stay, so they did. They watched as Eren flew away in his gear.

* * *

  
Eren flew through the forest, dropping strands of his hair every now and then in order to help his fellow cadets if they did decide to follow him. He began to hear noises of a wagon and changed his course in favour of it.

  
It was the same wagon. Eren knew because of the hole in one of them.

  
With deadly accuracy, he threw two throwing knives at the wheels and watched as the wheels fell off. He hid as he heard curses and footsteps. He quietly made his way and quickly drew perfect footsteps of a deer that was running. 

  
Then he went to a loose rock and kick it down.

  
More rocks fell alongside it.

  
He quickly flew downwards, made a hole in the tent of the wagon, and grabbing Krista. Krista held onto him with all of her might as he changed his course downwards. 

  
He turned and pushed her away as far as he could.

  
So that she wouldn't hear the screams of pain and suffering of the bandits as a few of them died.

* * *

  
Eren sat down on a rock at dawn, looking at the dead bodies of the bandits he had killed. As he did, Krista's head was on his lap. She was sleeping as he stroked her hair softy, watching as the Military Police actually do their job.

  
Jean was rubbing his bruised face with a tissue soaked in alcohol. He had managed to apologize to Jean for kicking him into the tree, and to his surprise, the horseface didn't actually hold it against him. Mikasa, currently, was helping the Police with cleanup.

  
"Cadet Jeager?"

  
Eren looked upwards at the solider. The solider made a hand sign to tell him to speak about what he had heard or seen before the Avalanche.

  
"I was looking for Krista. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt so I forced them to stay in one place. When I found the bandits, I threw two knives and cut off their wheels. I was going to try and knock them out one by one. But a deer came and kicked down a rock that caused the whole thing," look at him, lying again, "I managed to get Krista out in time and push her away before she could hear their screams."

  
If there was one thing Armin and Mikasa knew about Eren, it was that he was a good liar.

* * *

  
"She's okay, right?"

  
Eren nodded again at freckled Ymir, who sighed in relief. Freckled Ymir then walked towards and held Krista in a hug, kissing her forehead.

  
"Listen, I don't do this with many people but," Freckled Ymir let out a smile towards Eren, "Thank you."

  
"Your Welcome."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Explanation for why Eren could use the Coordinate: Ymir. That's all I have to say.


	6. In Which Things Appear Out of Nowhere

It was horrifying. It was unexpected. In was horrible, horrendous.

  
A very large castle took up a good portion of the training grounds. It wasn't that much of a portion, but it was still a portion.

  
Eren had almost immediately figured out why. Apparently, what was made in the place Ymir lived in sometimes could appear in the real world. Like this castle he and she had made. He quickly came up with a backup plan for it to stay.

  
Sergeant Shadis turned around and looked at them, blazing fury in his eyes, "WHO THE HELL MADE A LARGE CASTLE IN THE TRAINING GROUNDS!?"

  
Everyone stayed silent. Exhaling deeply, Eren raised his hand and said, "Sargent Shadis, why not use the castle for something since it would take a long time to take down?"

  
The Sergeant stomped towards Eren and got in his face. Eren made sure he didn't flinch. "Oh yeah, Cadet Jaeger? For what?"

  
"A new storage room, new bunks, or a new mess hall." He stated calmly. The castle that they made was surprisingly large enough to do all three.

  
Sergeant Shadis froze, thoughtful for a few minutes. Yes, that's right, actually thoughtful. 

* * *

  
They ended up using it for new bunks, bathrooms, storage, and a mess hall.

  
The barracks were larger, and because of that reason, they could fit wardrobes and whatnot. This time, there were triple bunk beds. There was also a mirror, mostly for Eren because of his hair. Jean had recommended it.

  
Jean was glad Eren wasn't there.

  
Otherwise he would've killed him.

  
The girls was the same, only with a bit more mirrors. Bathrooms were beside both of the barracks.

  
The mess hall was twice as large as the original one. It was more spacious and not cramped unlike the original. There were enough tables to almost feed half of a whole Garrison. 

  
Yes, that's right. Eren and Ymir had managed to make a very big castle. 

  
It even had a cellar and a basement for storage. Most of the basement was Sargent Shadis' office.

  
The old barracks were taken down. The training grounds was only a little smaller, but only by a little bit. 

They pretty much loved their new place.

* * *

  
The next thing appeared was in the forest. It was a tower. 

  
Reiner has joked that one of the girls or Eren could grow their hair long enough so that they could reenact Rapunzel. 

  
Reiner almost never saw the light of day again.

  
They used it as once again, storage. For spare gas tanks and cloaks. 

  
Eren and Ymir once again had made it.

* * *

  
Eren carefully helped Ymir build a something. It was a fly. A small fly. Or about the size of about three ODM gears. But Eren, Armin, Mikasa, and Kare were from Shiganshina. They were very used to flies.

* * *

  
It had come to life.

  
Everyone was screaming their heads off, excluding the Shiganshina group. 

  
They had managed to kill the fly.

  
They were now covered in blood. Lots of blood. 

  
"By the Walls, THAT WAS HUGE!" Thomas yelled out as the Shiganshina group stood there, drenched in blood.

  
"HOW THE HELL DID YOU EVEN KILL IT!?"

  
They all turned to him. Armin finally spoke, "It was only a small fly, Thomas."

  
Sargent Shadis had realized that they were from Shiganshina.

* * *

  
A few more buildings appear overnight, but it wasn't that many since Eren had learned his lesson about making things. 

  
Eren then remembered the giant cat Ymir had made before.

  
It was probably on a rampage.

* * *

  
The cat, in fact, was not on a rampage. It was actually laying down, grooming itself as it accidentally managed to kill a few Titans.

  
The cat was a force to be reckoned with.

  
DO NOT LET THE APPEARANCE OF THE CAT FOOL YOU.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The giant fly was based off of one of Feneris' works. And the castle and tower will never disappear. Never.


	7. In Which Eren Cooks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashback chapter lol

Eren's eyes opened to the sound of heavy breathing.

  
Kare laid in his bunk, sweating heavily. His mouth opening a few times only to close. He took in small breaths and exhaled them quickly. Everything felt hot, and he felt like he couldn't even move at all. 

  
Eren quickly took action and quietly went to the bathrooms. He scrounged two rags and a bowl of water. He then walked back to the barracks, went in, and kneeled beside Kare, who was heaving heavily.

  
Eren placed a wet rag on his head, then he used another one to take away the sweat on his neck and collarbone. He pressed it against his neck.

  
"Kare, how do you feel?"

  
Kare replied, in black hair matted with sweat and cold water, "Like shit." He managed to heave out. Eren placed the second wet cloth on his collarbone. Then he placed the bowl of cold water beside him.

  
"Make sure not to knock it down, okay? I'm gonna make something for you."

  
Kare grabbed the bowl and held it on his chest, "Thanks."

  
Eren put on his coat and went snuck out carefully. It was near dawn, so Shadis wouldn't be up yet.

* * *

  
He snuck into the kitchen. He began to look through everything, carefully cleaning up what mess he made.

  
'Dairy is good when your sick, so are bananas. . . And soup. Chicken soup.' 

  
He knew that there was milk in here since he sometimes uses milk for baking. Fruits and vegetables were also present, so they wouldn't be hard to find. As for chicken, now that would be hard. Meat is very hard to find since they had to use their cattle — the word made him shiver — sparingly. If he didn't find chicken, then he would just make porridge instead.

  
He began to look through everything again. He managed to find a tray, so he took it out. He once again began to rummage through the beverage section. Whe managed to find the milk, so he poured a good amount into a cup and put it over a boiler to heat it up. A banana did he find, but he also took an apple. Kare loved apples like Sasha loved potatoes.

  
He quickly cut them up and got rid of the banana peel somewhere so that it wouldn't be obvious that someone was here. 

  
Now there was the subject of the chicken. He didn't manage to find anything with chicken. And he meant it.

  
Sighing, he looked for oats to make the porridge with. He should probably add a dairy product in as well, you need to stay hydrated after all.

  
Footsteps came. They were coming to the kitchen.

  
Swearing, Eren took a kitchen knife and brandished it. He looked at the door, ready to knock them out if needed. The door opened.

  
It was Sasha.

  
Sighing in relief, Eren turned back to the food he was making. Sasha, however, did not let up.

  
"Eren, what are you doing here?"

  
Managing to find the oats, Eren poured them into a pot that he then filled with water. "I would ask you the same thing, but I know it's just because you wanted something to eat. To answer your question from before, someone got sick so I'm making food for him."

  
Sasha blushed in guilt before looking at the boiling pot of porridge he was making. She then began to salivate.

  
She got on her knees and tugged at Eren's sleeve. The brunette looked at the girl, and Sasha pointed at the pot of porridge.

  
"No."

  
She deflated.

  
Sasha then went ahead and ate some potatoes and bread miserably.

* * *

  
After a bit, the porridge was done. Eren had hoped Kare hadn't woken up anyone yet with his breathing. He poured it into a bowl and placed it on the tray.

  
At this point, Sasha had grabbed the pot and was now eating the residue. When she was done, Eren washed the remaining dishes (he had washed the dishes when the porridge was cooking and also cleaned up) and held the tray.

  
He walked out and to the barracks, where it was very near dawn.

* * *

  
"Sorry for the wait," Eren whispered in Kare's ear. He placed the tray in his lap, careful not to drop it. Kare looked at the other cadet, who smiled reassuringly.

  
He grabbed the cup of milk, which Kare chugged down with Eren's help with a thank you. The next were the fruits. Kare had actually tried to grab them, but there was a bowl of water on his chest and he was feeling very weak, so Eren fed him by hand. 

  
A creaking noise was heard, and the two boys froze. It was Reiner, who was now staring at both of them.

  
"What." Eren growled out, ready to break Reiner's back. 

  
"I'm just surprised—"

  
"That I'm feeding him?" Kare had eaten all of the fruit and was now being fed the porridge by Eren. There was a small smile on Kare's face. Eren really was great at cooking, most possibly he learnt from his mom.

  
"Um," Reiner rubbed the back of his head, "Yes?"

  
"Well, you shouldn't be," Eren re-wet the forehead rag and placed it on Kare's head. Then he fed the sick cadet the rest of the porridge.

  
"Go tell Shadis that Kare is sick so that I won't have to break your back."

  
Reiner did just that.

* * *

  
While that was happening, Sasha bursted into the girls barracks and cried out, "Eren knows how to cook!"

  
Mikasa looked at Sasha, "Yeah. I know."

* * *

  
As Everyone got dressed, with Eren washing the dishes, he went back and checked on Kare who looked like he was doing slightly better. 

  
Kare leaned into Eren's ear and murmured, "Thank you."

  
Eren didn't know why his face heated up, nor when he stuttered out a 'my pleasure' to him.

* * *

  
Eren had somehow managed to make a plate of food in the paths. Ymir looked at it confusingly.

  
Eren quickly elaborated, "This is porridge, Ymir. One of my friends was sick so I made him this so. . ."

  
Ymir ate it.

  
She was now surrounded by piles of food.

  
Eren felt a twinge of pain, remembering how she told him that she didn't need to eat at all. This was the first meal she ever had since 2000 years. He made a mental note as to make her food for now on.

  
Even if she didn't need to eat, she was still a human being.

* * *

  
After that, a few people asked them to cook for them. Eren refused to, not wanting t o get them addicted to his cooking and for them every single meal. 

  
Some of them even faked being sick, but Eren saw right through and scolded them for it. Whenever they did exercises in groups, Eren was their go to man for cooking. Others trembled in envy while the group that got Eren laughed in victory.

  
Some of them joked about getting married to Eren, and even enacted on said joke. Eren would always say no.

  
All in all, they all still wanted Eren's cooking everyday.


	8. In Which Ymir Tells A Bit About Herself

"Ymir,"

Ymir at Eren where she was playing with his hair, taking up new styles as braiding it with several ribbons.

  
"This is probably sensitive of me, but. . . how'd you end up here? In this place you call Paths?"

  
She froze.

  
"It's okay if you don't want to tell me! I was just asking. If you do want to tell me, then just tell me the beginning of it."

  
She was silent for a moment. 

  
Then she raised her hands and positioned them right in front of his face. As she told her story, her hands would tremble at times.

* * *

  
_She was a slave to someone. They cut out her tongues._

_One day, Pigs were released._

_She was being accused wrongly, she didn't do anything. She did not release the pigs. Yet she took the blame anyway._

  
_She was running. There were arrows sticking out of her back, her eye was gouged out. Tears blurred her vision as she attempted to escape._

  
_She found a tree. She tried to hide._

  
_She fell._

* * *

  
Eren was silent, taking everything in. After he did so, he clenched his fists tightly.

  
"That. . . fucker."

  
Ymir's hands were shaking. Was he going to hit her like they did? Was he really like that?

  
"He doesn't deserve to live. He's an animal," he growled ferociously, "Humans aren't cattle, we aren't slaves. We are born free."

  
He turned to Ymir, a much softer look on his face. 

  
"Ymir, I'll do my best to try and get you out of here. I'll protect you with all I have, okay?"

  
Was it possible? That she could escape? Then who would make his Titan form after she finally builds up the courage to tell him?

* * *

  
When he woke up, Eren took and shower, donned his uniform, and walked outside where everyone was doing their exercises. His green ribbon for his hair tie tied around his wrist.

  
Instead of immediately finding a partner and sparring with them, he walked straight to the stone wall. Armin held his hand out, "Eren, what are you—"

  
Then he punched a stone wall. No, it wasn't a normal punch. It was strong enough to actually make a dent! Small bits of stone flew, dropping to the ground as Eren stood there, unmoving. 

  
A few people were still sparring, the rest were silent. 

  
They didn't see Kare's slight smirk that was surpassed by a lip bite.

They didn't see Kirsta's eyes light up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was wondering or nor if I should make a Juinoe High Version of this.
> 
> Also, at the end with Historia, she was beginning to see Eren as himself.


	9. In Which Ymir Finally Explains Things to Eren

_You can turn into a Titan._

  
Out of all of the things Eren expected Ymir to sign, it certainly wasn't that.

  
"Wait, what?"

  
_I'm not lying. You can turn into a Titan, so can others._

  
Eren hit himself once. It was clear that Ymir wasn't lying. She barely ever lied and when she did, her face would twist into something like a grimace. So she wasn't lying.

  
"Go on Ymir."

* * *

  
Eren had learned a few things.

1\. He could turn into a Titan.  
2\. Freckled Ymir, Bertolt, Reiner, and Annie could also do that. The last three being the ones to take down the wall. (He would probably kill them later. He had reacted very violently when he heard that. Not towards Ymir. Never Ymir.)  
3\. Every shifter dies after 13 years, but not him since Ymir released him from the curse.  
4\. Ymir is the progenitor.  
5\. She creates Titans.  
6\. There are 9 of these special Titans: Founding, Attack, Female, Jaw, Warhammer, Colossal, Armour, Beast, and Cart. Eren was in possession of the first two.  
7\. Eren could control others and see the future with his.  
8\. He ate his father.  
9\. Titans used to be humans.

  
He started to see Titans in a new light after the last one. They were eating people because they were trying to find people like Freckled Ymir, him, and those three traitors. 

  
It was the reason his mom was eaten.

  
Because that Titan wanted to find a shifter and turn back to normal.

  
He began to feel sympathy. What did they do to deserve this? Why were they turned? How could they turn? Not to mention he ate his father. His father was most likely had the Founding and Attack and his years were up, so he passes them onto Was this the thing his father wanted him to find out whenever he looked at the key Eren had?

  
For now, Eren would try to test it out.

* * *

  
He ran as fast as his legs would take him. Far away from the camp. 

  
Once he was far enough, Ymir's sign language rang in his head _There are three things that need to be aligned when transforming: A purpose, the want, and self-harm. When you first transform, you'll probably lose control of yourself but I'll wrench you out of it._

  
_A girl in a strange cave, one of the shifters of the Attack or Founding before him. She bit her hand and transformed._ With a deep inhale, he bit his hand.

  
Instantly, he felt the sand form around him, engulfing him. He could barely breathe anything, it felt suffocating as it formed from his legs. Unlike what Ymir told him, his Titan steamed in existence. Maybe she was helping him be discreet? 

  
Finally, it was done.

  
It was hot. Very hot. But it didn't feel that way to Eren. It actually felt warm. There was flesh on his cheeks, which probably connected himself to his Titan. 

  
He felt himself fade away. Without thinking his hand shot out—

  
_"Stop!"_

  
The sudden voice made him come back to his senses and obey. It was unfamiliar, yet it was raspy as if the person hadn't talked in a long time. It was young and female, and it seemed nervous.

  
However, Eren instantly knew who it was. 

  
Ymir.

  
Directing the punch into his face, Eren recoiled from inside. Oh, so it travels to the human body, huh? Of course it did, you needed some degree of control and to know what you were doing. 

  
He extended one leg in his Titan form and threw a kick. It responded a bit slowly, but it still responded.

  
Still, Titan corpses take a lot of time to steam away. With a grunt, he ripped himself out and jumped downwards, clinging with his knives to the skin of the Titan. He slid downwards and ripped the knives out when he was near the ground.

  
Then he ran back to camp, the grooves on his face slowly fading away.

* * *

  
He kept on practicing a few more times at night, careful to not lose control of himself and carefully leaving barely any evidence behind. It would suck to find a rotting Titan corpse in the middle of nowhere when your training.

  
Then there was the subject of Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie. . .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally some good stuff


	10. The One Where Eren/Frieda Tries to Kill Reiner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Me, writing this chapter: this was supposed to be crack, this was supposed to be crack, this was supposed to be crack—
> 
> Frieda and Eren were collaborating (kind of). Since Frieda still technically exists inside of Eren, instead of trying to let them go and be discreet, she influenced him to kill them immediately and frame someone or something.

Reiner knows a few things about Eren.  
1\. He's a good cook (no it's more like supreme).   
2\. He's from Shiganshina.   
3\. He knows how to sign.   
4\. He apparently knows how to throw knives.   
5\. He may be in the possession of the Coordinate.

Why the last one? Well. . .

* * *

"Reiner,"

  
Said blond looked down at Eren. Eren's eyes once again had a faraway look on his face, yet there were fangs beneath, ready to strike at anytime like a viper.

  
"Can you meet me in the forest at night? It's something private and I don't want anyone to hear."

  
Reiner slipped into his 'soldier' persona and nodded, "Yeah, I can do that."

* * *

  
"If I don't come back in about 30 minutes, look for me, okay?" Reiner requested.

  
Annie and Bertolt nodded, Annie calmly and with a disinterested look on her face with Bertolt once again almost breaking out in cold sweat.

* * *

  
Reiner stood in the forest, silent. That was strange, Eren said that he wanted to meet him here so why wasn't he here?

  
Something at him began to scream.

  
_Behind, behind, behind, dodge from behind, your going to die—_

  
Reiner turned around and ducked in time so avoid a swing of a very sharp axe. He then grabbed the blunt side of the axe and looked at his attacker.

  
It was Eren.

  
Eren, the one he befriended.

  
Eren, the one that was protective of Krista.

  
Eren, the one that probably killed the bandits.

  
Eren, who was looking at him like prey. Like an Eldian at their Marleyan. His eyes being a mix between purple and the captivating ocean-like ones. The violet slowly took over the eyes as Eren snarled out, "You damn sinner. . ."

  
"Eren, Wh—" Reiner couldn't get his question out, as Eren took out a rather long throwing knife and swiped at him in an _actual attempt to slit his throat open and leave him to bleed out—_

  
Reiner managed to dodge. _How in the world did he manage to dodge that?_

  
Eren was suddenly gone, but a foot and sudden pain at his jaw told Reiner that he had ducked down and kicked him in the face. The warrior recoiled as the soldier kicked him backwards and ran towards him, his eyes suddenly going white for a second before returning to that violet.

  
Eren had managed to pin him down. Reiner was going easy on him, but dear _god_ was he actually pretty strong. He raised the axe and brought it downward.

  
Onto Reiner's head.

  
Spitting a curse, the warrior grabbed it and held it so that it didn't cut his face open.

  
"Once I kill you, I'll murder those other two. . ." Eren's voice wasn't it's usually slight gravelly, instead it seemed kind of feminine.

  
Reiner swore again and had one hand on the axe before he took a quick gamble and with a quick chop to the neck, knocked Eren out.

  
A moment later, he began to hear footsteps until finally, Annie and Bertolt were in view.

* * *

  
"We should kill him," Annie said, a grimace on her face, "If he called you a sinner, and threatened to kill you, me, or Bertolt, then that means he must've figured out what we're here for."

  
"Speaking of," Bertolt was once again sweating heavily, his Titan steam almost emitting off of him, "Why did he attack you in the first place?"

  
"I don't know," Reiner, "After training, he asked me to meet him in the forest for a quick talk. Thanks for coming after me, by the way. He then tried to murder me and called me a sinner. His eyes were, well, violet instead of his usual exotic green."

  
Wait a second.

  
Sinner?

  
Or did Reiner hear wrong and instead Eren said, "Shifter"?

  
"I may be wrong, but I think that. . ."

  
  


* * *

Eren sat with Ymir, watching with a smile as she made a sculpture of a human. He didn't remember much, but all he knew was that he had tried to kill Reiner for being the armoured Titan. He would do it soon, but for now, he will spend time with her.

  
_". . . he has the Coordinate."_


	11. The One Where Eren Has a Dilemma

The Warriors didn't tell Sergeant Shadis. If they did, then Eren would be out of their sights and they needed Eren to be in their sights. They needed to confirm Reiner's theory that he had the Coordiante. If they took down the next wall, then Eren could just control the Devils to get out.

  
Not to mention that Eren seemed to have no memory whatsoever. Was he being controlled? Or influenced? When Reiner asked him about it, Eren looked confused and had asked if it actually happened. He said that he had passed out from exhaustion, or so he says.

  
Reiner never knew that Eren was lying.

* * *

  
Eren flew across the forest, training with the others at slaying. As he hooked himself to a tree, he propelled himself towards the false Titan, his swords ready to slice the fake nape. 'It's okay, they aren't real, they are just fakes.'

  
The image of the one who ate his mother rang throughout his mind. It slowly morphed into a petite blonde woman that almost looked like Krista. There wasn't a permanent smile on her face.

  
Eren

  
Froze.

  
'Stopitstopitstopit—!' Get out of his head, he didn't want those images ohnogodwhy—they were still human but Eren couldn't bring them back even if he tried dammit—

  
He hacked down on the false nape with a grimace before he landed on a tree. 

  
Titans used to be humans.

  
Titans used to be humans.

  
Humanshumanshumans—!

  
"Eren!" He heard Marco's voice call out, "Don't fall behind!"

  
Eren snapped out of his thoughts and followed.

* * *

  
Eren was acting weird, and you didn't need to be Mikasa or Armin to find that out.

  
Recently, instead of saying he'll kill all of the Titans, he always looked remorseful. Whenever it was brought up, Marco would hear Eren murmur, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, you don't deserve this. Your trapped in a nightmare."

  
Marco was very worried. 

  
Today's training had been hacking down Titans. Instead of Eren slicing the false napes open with ferocity, he looked hesitant. As if he was wondering what he was doing was worth it.

  
Marco would ask him about it later. Right now he needed to focus on getting into the Military Police to give his life to the king.

* * *

  
Eren was alone in the male barracks.

  
Good.

  
Eren grabbed and threw one of his knives at the wall. It bounced off and clanged to the floor. Grabbing something — he didn't care, he just needed to vent his anger out — he threw it to the floor. 

  
Heaving heavily, Eren let out a soft whine as he went down to his knees. 

  
Titans used to be humans.

  
Humans were turned into Titans.

  
Whywhywhywhy!

  
They can't bring them back unless they feed them one of the nine. Not even the Founding Titan would bring them back. He couldn't bring them back, he can't bring them back. They were stuck in an endless nightmare for years.

  
Why him?

  
Our of all the things Eren felt for Titans, the last thing he thought he would feel would be sympathy and sadness.

  
Ha. Physically he was strong but mentally he was weak. He really did need protecting.

  
The door opened and Eren shot towards his bunk in attempt to make it look like he was sleeping.

  
Too late.

  
It was Marco.

  
"Eren, dinners almost done. I also heard a loud crash. What's wrong?"

  
"Nothing."

  
"Eren—"

  
"Nothing is wrong dammit! Just please. . . just leave me be!"

  
The door closed and Eren wrapped himself in his blanket. 

  
He let out a pathetic laugh.

  
He really was weak.


	12. In Which Ymir Swears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Breather chapter lmao

Eren carefully braided Ymir's hair, surprised at how soft it was despite her being in the Paths for so long. Did she want to keep it that way or something? He was broken out of his thoughts when Ymir tapped his shoulder and signed,

  
 _Eren_.

  
"Yeah?"

  
_What does 'fuck' mean?_

  
Eren took a moment to register what she signed.

  
He processed the info.

  
Then he screamed.

* * *

  
He messed up.

  
He messed up so badly.

  
Armin watched in concern at seeing Eren slam his head into the pillow and scream his heart out. He sometimes even slammed his face into said pillow while screaming. Eren soon stopped – good – and was silent for a moment. There was a look of regret, yet resignation in his eyes. 

  
Then he took out a knife. 

  
"EREN, WHAT THE HELL—!" Armin threw himself forward and snatched the knife away from Eren. 

  
"I CORRUPTED A CHILD, ARMIN! I MUST ATONE FOR MY SINS!" Eren tackled his friend into the ground and began to reach for the knife. He will carve a scar into his arm that he will never heal with his powers. It will stay there for eternity until he dies. A mark of shame. He had corrupted his sister, his Ymir. He will pay.

  
"EREN, CALM DOWN!" Armin began to play keep-away with the knife by tossing it over to his other hand before throwing it over Eren's head. Eren went after said knife before Armin pinned him down to the ground, using his strength to keep him tethered. 

  
"ARMIN! I NEED THE KNIFE!"

  
"NO, YOU DON'T!"

In the end, they ended up knocking Eren out and tying him to the bunk beds. Everyone looked at him in concern before agreeing to take watch so Eren doesn't try to pull his stunt again.

* * *

  
Ymir blinked her purple eyes, confused. Eren was hugging her, his long hair obscuring her vision as he repeated, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please forgive me, I'm sorry. . ."

  
She still didn't know what that word meant.


	13. The One Where Bertolt, Reiner, and Annie talk.

Bertolt went for a tackle, only for Eren to dodge to the left and grab his arm. Holding it tightly, he used his other hand to quickly push him down onto the ground before bringing up his leg and smashing it downwards onto Bertolt's back.

  
The other shifter fell down onto the ground, pain coursing throughout his system. Not like his factor wouldn't heal it. Eren stared at him before putting on a false smile and helping him up.

  
_Keep your enemies close._

* * *

  
Annie sat in silence during breakfast, Eren discreetly staring at her. Conflict, hatred, and confusion in his eyes.

  
_Learn anything you can about them._

* * *

  
Reiner grunted as he dodged a kick from Eren before sweeping him downward. Eren quickly pressed his hand against the sand before repositioning himself, the fake knife in hand — which he wished was a real one.

  
_Learn their weaknesses, their strengths._

* * *

  
They were restocking supplies for training and food. Eren dragged the crate, grunting from the weight of the crate. Annie, Bertolt, and Reiner stared at him as he did.

  
_And get them at their weakest._

* * *

  
"Are you sure he's the Coordinate?" Annie asked, kicked a tree. She hasn't gotten that much practice in a long time, so this was a good excuse to vent out her frustrations. "We haven't seen him do anything that's related to the Coordinate."

  
"I'm positive," Reiner affirmed, "One of Eren's best traits is his ability to lie, even though his ears turn red when we he does, he always hides it. He probably was lying when I asked him about our 'encounter' now that I think about it."

  
"And if he isn't?" Bertolt joined in, watching as Annie did her kicks.

  
"Then he isn't. We just have to find the real Coordinate until our 13 years are up. That way, we'll be able to crush these Devils."

  
Annie stopped for a moment before shaking her head. Damn Marleyan Propaganda, screwing with their minds. She never fell for it, knowing that all of it was just bullshit. Bertolt and Reiner did, though. That's a shame, she thought that they were stronger then her. She never cared about that. 

  
If she did get out of here alive, then she would just see her Father again. She would want nothing more then to see him, even if it's for the first and last time in her life.

* * *

  
"Ymir. Couldn't you just. . . stop building Titans?" Eren asked, looking at the slave girl, who was on the sand, her arms and legs moving up and down constantly.

  
The child shook her head before raising her hands, _I can't. Whenever I try to resist, my mind goes blank and suddenly, a Titan is steaming away from my grasp. I always try to mess it up, but all that comes out are deformities. I really hate building Titans, because it's a reminder of what I did_.

  
Well, that explains why some of them had skinny arms and legs.

  
But still. . .

  
"What about when you made my Titan?"

  
_I did it out of my own free will. I always will. It's never for the others, never the others._

  
She lived as a slave, and died as a slave.

  
She didn't deserve any of this. The dick that enslaved her and everyone else did deserve to be in her place. All high and mighty until suddenly, your in a strange place and are forced to create limbs and Titans for eternity.

  
Ymir didn't deserve this.

  
But her owner did.

  
And if it's possible for her to get out of the Paths. Well. . .

  
Eren will protect her with all he has.


	14. The One With Trost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We getting to some good shit

"We're breaking down Trost today," Reiner says as he pulls on the straps to his gear. "When we do, Eren will most likely use the Coordinate in his human or Titan form. When that happens, I'll get him and then we high-tail it back to Marely. Sounds good?"

  
Bertolt nodded. Annie was silent.

* * *

  
There Ymir was, sitting in the Paths. She was staring at the tree. She knew which one was which, which one was from her descendants and which ones were from the other eight. 

  
She wondered what would happened if she died that day.

  
She wouldn't be here. She wouldn't be here, being forced to build and build with no free will of her own. She wouldn't be here, forced to walk in this endless place of sand. 

  
She would be dead.

  
Honestly? She would've liked that. 

  
Dead. Freed of the world she had accidentally create. 

  
But there were some pros as well.

  
Meeting Eren.

  
He was the only one who didn't see her as a slave. He just saw her as. . . Ymir. Ymir? She didn't like that name at all. It was only given to her by that — at least, what Eren calls him — 'That horrible bastard fucker of a king that shouldn't even have existed in the first place.' 

  
She still didn't know what the word meant.

* * *

  
Eren looked down at the wall. He watched as the people of Trost walk around, minding their own business.

  
They wouldn't mind their own business soon.

  
Call it a gut feeling. He still didn't really know how to sued the Attack Titan, but he knew a gut feeling when he had one. 

* * *

  
'Stop it—'

  
Build.

  
'STOP IT!'

  
Build.

  
'I SAID STOP!'

  
Like always, she couldn't control her actions.

* * *

  
Light is faster then sound. 

  
Why did he think that?

  
He turned around and stared into the eyes of Bertolt's Titan, who was steaming away.

  
'SHIT!'

  
Eren swore as the steam and air that followed Bertolt's Titan blow him and everyone else away. His hair coming undone, he quickly regained his footing and used his gear to run foreward. As he did, the Titan kicked the gate and tore a cavity open.

  
Just like Shiganshina.

  
"Eren!" Connie shouted. The gate's been breached and they needed to get orders. "What are you—" he spoke, only to be disrupted by something in the Colossal Titan's eyes when it saw Eren.

  
Recognition.

  
Why recognition?

  
Connie watched, confused as he saw Eren battle with the Titan, his long hair somethings getting in the way. However, he fought quickly and moved like a snake. He watched as he scaled the arms of said Titan.

  
That's when Connie noticed a hand coming up to grab Eren.

  
"WATCH OUT!" He shouted. Eren heeded his warning and jumped upwards, the hand missing the brunette by a inch. Eren was then at the nape, where he swung the swords. Another bout of steam pushing them further away.

* * *

  
'Hot! Fucking hot!' Eren swore. Ymir told him about this, but to think it was this strong!? 'I have to cut him out now and feed him to another. I just need to–'

  
He swung the swords once again, his hair surprisingly not getting in the way this time. 

  
He cut through steam.

  
'Goddammit!' He thought, steam coming off of his own wounds. He landed on the top of the wall before looking at Thomas, who was being followed by Connie, Mina, and Sasha helping a injured Samuel.

  
"I didn't kill it, before you ask," Eren quickly stated. Mina undid on of her pigtails before changing her hair into a ponytail. She held the hair tie out for Eren, who thanked her and put it on. He tied his hair into a bun, a few strands coming loose.

  
A few Garrison officers finally came up, a few of them having blood steaming away from them. One of them took Samuel from Sasha before giving out their orders.

  
Eren already knew what to do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is kind of diverting from canon soooooo hehe


	15. The One With Trost, Part 2

Kare sliced the nape of a Titan, enjoying as it fell down to the ground. The cadet slid across the roof with a grunt. Kare looked around at his squad and asked, "No ones dead yet, right?"

  
The other members nodded in response. Kare sighed in relief. He looked down on his clothes, which were covered in blood but steadily steaming away. It was, well, hot. But he had other things to worry about.

  
Like killing all of the Titan's in the city.

* * *

  
Eren sped across the place, finding the most secluded area to transform. If he screamed in his human form, then it wouldn't get to all of the Titan's. If he screamed in his Titan form, then it would get across but he would be a potential target for others. 

  
But he had no choice. He had to do this soon or Reiner would destroy the inner wall. If it was a chance to even just to get them to stop, then he would take it. 

  
The sound of the wires and some gas being expelled made him freeze. He looked up and saw his squad following him. 

  
'How? I told them to stay put and to find a senior squad!' He panicked. They were oblivious, of course. They didn't pay attention to his panic. 

  
Sending a curse under his breath, he turned back and cried out, "Stay! Don't you dare eat them!" 

  
There was confusion momentarily in there eyes, but they glazed over and nodded. They used their gear to send themselves to another building. Eren sighed in relief before landing a lot further from then. The Founding Titan was handy sometimes.

  
He undid his hair and wrapped it around his wrist.

* * *

  
Reiner looked across the buildings, looking for Eren. Annie and Bertolt were close by, doing the same thing as him. All they had to do was knock Eren out for a long time, tie him up, and exit from the cavity in the gate and run back to Marley.

* * *

  
Ymir blinked as she felt Eren bit his hand. She quickly got to work and began to build the Titan, making sure to let it allow it to steam into existence instead of its usual lightning.

* * *

  
Suddenly, they were interrupted by the overwhelming smell of steam. Not just steam, Titan steam. The group froze as they attempted to pinpoint the source of the smell. 

  
It was easy for them, as a Titan moved upwards. It's dark hair was long, at least to its waist. It's body was sculpted like Helos, abs rippling head-to-toe. But what gave it away was its eyes.

  
Glowing eyes of burning passion. Glowing green eyes.

  
It was Eren.

  
Reiner swore. They wouldn't be able to get Eren in his Titan form. If Annie or him transformed right now, then they would have to keep a eye out while they were battling Eren. Not to mention they might see them. There was always a chance, and none of them were in possession of the Coordinate if there was someone.

  
Reiner looked at the other two and made a Marleyan hand sign. Annie and Bertolt moved their heads in surprise but agreed that this was the best course of action.

* * *

  
Eren stared at the houses in his Titan. He looked to the side and saw his Squad looking at him in fear. However, he ignored them. He walked a bit ahead.

  
Then he lurched back his head, a command in his mind, and he screeched.

  
All of the Titan's instantly stopped what they were doing. For a moment, all was silent. The the Titan's dropped whatever human they were holding and began to walk out.

  
They didn't tear each other apart, because he was weak again. He was too damn weak to get them to all tear all of their napes open. They would still be in a endless nightmare.

  
Changing his command, Eren roared again.

* * *

  
The scouts froze in surprise at the roar. Levi let out a small 'Tch' before bringing out his swords and running forward to the long-haired Titan who had just roared. 

  
"Levi, wait!" Hanji called out, their hands grabbing him to stop.

  
"What is it, shitty glasses? If you wanna capture it, then consider it gone!"

  
"No, look! It isn't attacking anyone!"

  
Levi looked up and noted that Hanji was right. Petra looked in confusion, "Why?"

  
"I don't know, but I MUST HAVE IT!" Another roar, and then the Titan's tore each other apart. Hanji screamed in delight, pumping their fists up in the air. "IT CAN CONTROL OTHERS! I REALLY NEED TO LEARN MORE!"

  
Levi wasn't listening, instead focusing on the face on the Titan. He was far, but it. . .

  
It was crying.

* * *

  
Eren looked on, a single tear running down his face. He watched as they tore each other apart, imaging how much agony they would be in as they died. Subconsciously, his Titan did it as well. 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But this is the best end I can give you.'

  
Armin looked at the Titan and watched in confusion as it cried. Remorse? Why remorse? It also seemed to be able to control Titan's, and wanted them to leave the gate. But instead, it change it mind and forced them to kill each other and looked remorseful about it.

  
This. . . 'Aberrant' was a strange one. Not to mention, where's Eren?

* * *

Hanji ran forward, absolutely delighted. Levi and Petra running after them, "Hanji! Please, calm down!" Petra cried out.

  
The Rogue was running towards so,etching, but Hanji just wanted to get a good look at the Titan. It was beautiful! It was muscular! It could control others! HANJI LIKES!

  
"OOOOHHHH YESSSSS!!!" Hanji yelled as they positioned themselves in front of the Rogue. It froze immediately, looking at Hanji.

  
"My, my! I've never seen anything quite like you! One that can control Titans and completely ignores humans! Do you mind if I capture you?"

* * *

  
What.

  
Eren looked at the scout who was shouting at him and requesting that he would be captured. 

  
What.

  
No.

  
Absolutely not.

  
His previous sorrow forgotten and replaced with confusion and frustration, he jumped over the scout — who probably squealed again, he didn't know — and ran towards the Boulder he saw from earlier. It was big enough to plug the gate.

  
That's all he needed right now. The Boulder. But he wouldn't be able to scream if he did, his face would be squished. He also didn't know wether or not they knew that they could trust him. To them, he was just another Titan.

  
A monster. He probably is a monster. He always has been. Ever since he killed those bandits.

  
(He doesn't hear Ymir's words, "Not a monster, your not a monster, Eren.") 

  
Eren froze suddenly at the hooks in his flesh. A whir of gas, and then a shout, "Levi! No!" 

  
Eren froze before bringing a hand up to his nape, gritting his teeth in pain when he felt them cut. They would heal, they would heal, but that didn't make it any less better. Right now, he just needed to avoid having his nape cut and revealing himself.

  
"Lucky bastard," he hears a tired voice hiss. The hooks are gone, and Eren looks around to see that a bunch of more Titan's have come through. Once again, he screamed and they began to tear each other apart.

  
The person before yelled, their voice high and girlish. "YES, YES!"

  
Ignoring them, Eren ran towards the Boulder and placed his hands on it. With another scream, he lifted it up and placed it on his shoulders.

  
It was heavy, of course. He felt like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. With that, he began to walk towards the gate, the Boulder firmly on his shoulders.

* * *

  
The Garrison watched in shock as the Titan from before stomped away, carrying the rock. Pixis hummed in thought, looking at the Titan in great interest.

  
"Why? How. . . why is it. . ." Rico murmured, her eyes wide at seeing the Titan. 

  
Ian stood still for a moment before screaming out a order, "DEFEND IT! IT'S TRYING TO SEAL THE GATE! DEFEND THE TITAN! IF IT TURNS ON US, WE HAVE FULL PERMISSION TO KILL IT!"

  
Rico looked at Ian before turning her gaze towards Pixis, "You can't be serious! This Titan cannot be helping us!"

  
Pixis looked at Rico, "Why, yes. It is. It got all of the other Titans to leave, ignored any human that came it's way, and is now carrying the rock. I believe it is helping us. Obey Ian, Rico. But if it does turn on us, you do have full permission to kill it."

  
Reluctantly, she carried out her orders.

* * *

  
Mikasa looked at the Titan that was nearing the gate. She has just gotten orders to defend it, but she couldn't help but stare at it in wonder. It was intelligent. He got the others to leave, and ignored humans. 

  
Armin landed beside her. She turned to him, "Are you okay, Armin?" He nodded and looked at the Titan.

  
"Where's Eren?" 

  
Armin shook his head, "I don't know either. All I remember is following him and the suddenly, woosh! There's a Titan in front of us!" 'But there is a possibility that this Eren. . .'

  
Following him? Then suddenly, there's a Titan. Mikasa looked at the Titan, thoughtful. 

  
Then. . . could that Titan be Eren?

* * *

  
After several minutes, several deaths, the gate was sealed. Rico fell to her knees in puzzlement, yet happiness. She looked at the Titan who had sealed the gate. There really were Titans that ignored humans, that helped humanity. Another roar came from the Rogue, and the Titan's tore their kind apart again. It then kneeled down, it's back facing towards the sealed gate.

  
Rico let out a sob before firing a flare, "None of your deaths. . . were in complete vain, my friends."

  
However, she was immediately distracted by the scene of smoke flying up form the Titan's nape. Then, a person came out, a actual person came out of the Titan.

  
"What?" She whispered. She watched as the person — long brown hair, wearing a cadet uniform — slid down from the Titan and run away. The carcass of the Titan dissipating from existence.

  
This was going to be a bitch to report. 

* * *

  
Mikasa looked at Eren, whose face was hidden by his long hair. "Eren! Your alive!" 

  
"I'm fine, Mikasa, I'm fine." He assured, dragging himself towards her. He then opened his arms and hugged her, her arms wrapping around him as well. While Mikasa sobbed in relief, Eren was silent. Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie knew who he was, so why did they not get him? 

  
He couldn't ask them that, otherwise he would confirm everything that they suspected of him.

  
He needed to get rid of them soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> This will follow canon, yet it will also be different at the same time. The Female Titan Arc will still happen, but slightly different. Also, yay! People get spared!  
> For now


	16. Eren Kind of Fucks Up

"My report, Commander,"

  
Pixis took the report from Rico, who saluted and walked out of the office. It has been a day after they retook Trost with the help of the Rogue, who had died after. Problem was, nobody saw anybody else sliced the nape of the Titan, so why had it died?

  
Pixis only hoped that his questions could be answered by the report, although there was little chance it could. 

  
He began to read over said report, drinking some wine and skimming over a few things that he knew had happened before stopping at a paragraph. He froze and placed his wine flask on the table of it was actually messing with his mins. He began to re-read the paragraph again and again. Nothing changed at all.

  
Guess his questions were answered.

* * *

  
Nile tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Pixis. He, alongside Erwin were sitting at a table in Nile's office when they got a letter from Pixis for a request for a meeting. 

  
If it was important, then why the hell was he taking so long!? Was he drinking again?

  
'I swear if he isn't here by the next 30 minutes I'm dragging him here myself!'

  
About five minutes later, Pixis did come through the door, "Sorry I'm late," he excused, "I was having a hangover."

  
To be fair, Pixis did look a lot more sober then he usually did, which was saying something. But if he wasn't drunk, then what was about to happen really was serious. 

  
The Garrison commander sat down at the table, taking out a water flask — yes, actual water — and drank it. Then he took out a few papers, with some paragraphs underlined. "Read the underlined ones, please."

  
Erwin took the report and read it. After a moment, he dropped it in surprise. Nile stopped being irritated and looked at the underlined report. His jaw dropped.

  
**After the Rogue had roared again, it kneeled down and steam came from its nape. I'm sure you've read this on every report, but I saw something else. Someone with long, dark hair came from the nape and then ran away. Yes, you read that right. There was a human in the body of the Titan.**

  
"A human in the body of a Titan?!" Nike shouted.

  
Pixis nodded. "Yes, I was in disbelief as well. But Rico is loyal and always tells the truth."

  
"The question is," Erwin joined in, "What do we do with this information?"

  
"We find the person in the Titan and dissect then kill them!" Nile declared in fear, "They are too dangerous to be kept alive! Not to mention it can control others if Zoë is telling the truth!"

  
"But they aren't," Erwin retorted calmly, "They could've harmed anyone at all, but they didn't. They controlled the Titan's to kill each other and ignored Levi and Hanji. They even protected their nape but didn't lash out at Levi."

  
"But they could turn on us!"

  
"Then Levi would take care of them, Nile. You know how strong he is." Erwin once again said, his face and tone serene in contrast to the fear on Nile's and interest in Pixis's face.

  
"We recruit them into the Scouting Legion, where they will be kept under watch by Levi and the Special Operations Squad. If they do anything suspicious, then we chain them up. That's my proposal. What about you, Pixis?"

  
". . . Well we could use them to curb the giant fly problem," all of them shivered at the flies. Those horrible flies! "But I will not fight for them if they do not want to."

  
Nile was silent. His interest was in the best of humanity. If he saw this shifter as a threat, then they were a threat. But they could still help them to reclaim the other walls. However, he wanted to know how they worked but—!

  
He sighed and gave in, "I will put my trust in both of you."

* * *

  
All of them stood at attention in front of a Garrison member, donned with their uniforms and ready to go. What was this? Early recruitment? Another assignment to make up with the last one?

  
"The Commanders have requested that every dark-long haired person to come for examination. Please, leave your hair down."

  
Fuck. 

  
Fuck.

  
Fuckfuckfuckfuck!!

  
How did they find out!?

  
Eren was too caught up in his panic that he didn't see Armin and Mikasa look at him in worry. They she found out that he, well, was the Titan in Trost. They didn't tell anyone about this, simply because it would cause more of a panic and people treating Eren differently. 

  
But they found out. They have to get Eren out of this mess. Mikasa and Armin began to sign to each other, Armin coming up with the plan, and Mikasa ready to execute the plan.

  
Eren suddenly had his posture slacked, and followed the other cadets. Mikasa grabbed his arm, shaking her head frantically. The brunette was surprised for a moment before he looked at her with a strained reassuring smile before picking her hand off of his arm. As he walked behind a confused Sasha, he signed, I'll be okay, don't worry about it.

  
At least, that was him attempting to convince them.

* * *

  
Eren stood, rigid. His hair was down, as per order. But it had been slightly frazzled due to the heat in his Titan, and it almost showed. He could see the other recruits looking confused as well, wondering what this was about. 

  
But Eren knew. And he knew that he had fucked up.

  
Someone saw him and reported it. But they only saw his hair. This was selfish of him, but he wanted someone to get captured instead so he wouldn't have to. He didn't want to leave Armin, Mikasa, Ymir, and Krista alone. He just wanted to get out, but he couldn't. Attention would immediately be drawn to him.

  
He had his posture be more straighter as the Commanders and a few other members of their branch walk by the row he was in. They were touching the hair of others, although gently and with permission. After that, they just looked at them and one Scouting Legion soldier came about and sniffed them before smirking.

  
Eren was so screwed.

  
If that soldier could smell Titan flesh, then he certainly was screwed. He was going to die.

  
"May I touch your hair?"

  
Eren looked at the person in front of him. It was that soldier that wanted to capture him, and possibly still showed interest. "No." He stated calmly. In the inside, he was screaming and swearing.

  
"Okay then!" They chirped, looking at the worn edges of his hair in interest, "What happened to your hair before?"

  
"Accident during Trost. The steam from the Colossal Titan burnt the edges a bit." He lied smoothly, making sure that his ears were covered. The scout hummed in responses before laughing. Then, they waved the blonde one over and—

  
Eren had to keep himself in place so he wouldn't run. 

  
The two scouts looked at him curiously, possibly seeing him adjust his footing. The blonde one — Mike? Is that what they called him? — leaned forward and sniffed him.

  
He could almost hear the blink before another few sniffs. Mike(?) then let out a smirk wider then his previous ones and moved onto the next person.

  
Eren only hoped that he was safe.

  
He didn't want to be treated more as a monster then he already was.

* * *

  
After everything is finally done and the soldiers are allowed back, they all meet in the empty room. Hanji speaks up, their tone serious, "I think we found our little shifter."

  
Nile opened his mouth, "Then—"

  
"Ah-ah-ah!" Hanji tutted, waving their finger, "Not going to tell you yet! We aren't sure yet, not to mention you might want to dissect them. We need proof, so until the ceremony, we'll be assigning different people from the Legion to follow them. If we have enough proof, then we have enough proof."

  
"Shouldn't we make it public?" Ian asked.

  
Levi, who was silent up until now, shook his head, "No. How would everyone feel if a shifter was among our ranks? A mass panic. This shifter would also be uncomfortable and possibly try to escape over the wall. We already know that they can control Titan's."

  
Pixis took a swig of his wine, "I say we follow Zoë's proposal. Spy on them and write down everything suspicious they do. Is that okay with you Erwin, Nile?"

  
Erwin nodded in response, Nile did so as well, but more hesitantly.

  
The score was settled. 


	17. Eren Gets Stalked and Hanji is Excited

"People are probably gonna stalk me, Ymir." Eren bluntly says as she plays with his hair.

  
"Do you know why?" Ymir croaked out. He was about to reply when his jaw dropped. She– she– she talked! She actually talked! Eren lifted the girl and hugged her, who let out a small squeak. He let out a laugh as he got up and spun her around.

  
"You talked! You talked!"

  
Ymir actually let out a giggle before she paid attention.

  
"They probably found out that I was the Titan during Trost, but they are just making sure. I don't know which Regiment they are in, but I certainly hope it's not the Military Police. . ."

  
"I'm sorry. . ."

  
"For what?"

  
Ymir pressed her face into Eren's chest, "I'm sorry. I built your Titan. . ."

  
Eren's eyes widened in surprise before he shook his head, "No, no! It's not your fault. I needed to transform. So, you helped me. It's was my fault for not being careful enough."

  
Despite the fabric, he could feel Ymir smile.

  
Did she blame herself for everything that she did wrong? She took the blame for the pigs, and took the blame for a bunch of other things before and after that. 

  
Eren really wished he could go back in time and kill her 'master'.

* * *

Eren was stressed. Very stressed.

  
Historia had noticed that he is stressed. So why was he stressed? He would sometimes look around in paranoia, his eyes darting frantically across the place he was in until Armin, Mikasa, or Kare calmed him down.

  
Was it because their ceremony was postponed for a while? It was only a few days, but that didn't explain why he would look around like someone was going to attack him. Not to mention that a few people that always had the same appearance — ginger and orange eyes, stubble and blonde, an old looking guy with a weird undercut, guy whose hair looked like a bird's beak — would sometimes be in the same place as Eren.

  
Did that mean he was being followed by people? But why? If he was, then she would help her big brother. Just to get his mind off of things.

* * *

  
Being in town — as civilians, not soldiers — actually _calmed_ Eren down quite a bit, as Historia noted. He was less on guard and more carefree, acting like her big sis at times. They weren't doing much, they were just walking around, talking and just looking at everything. 

  
It was then Historia decided to ask him a question.

  
"Hey, big brother—" she clasped a hand over her mouth in surprise and embarrassment. Eren let out a small laugh before smiling back, "Yes, sis?"

  
Oh my god, he was actually a little shit at times.

  
"Do you still want to join the Scouting Legion?" 

  
Eren froze at the question. He still did want to join the Legion, even if he was being followed and scared of them at times. But if he joined mortality rates would drop. All he had to do was scream.

  
He opened his mouth to answer.

* * *

  
Petra had never thought she would live this long, being apart of the Legion and all, but she did and she was proud of it. She was also proud of the fact that she managed to get a spot in The Special Operations Squad, under Captain Levi. 

  
Right now, she also never thought that she would spy on someone younger then her. Really, she kind of felt weird doing it. But they needed to make sure he was the one they were looking for, that same shifter. 

  
Currently, he was with another cadet, Krista Lenz, who he must have a close relationship with if she called him big brother. 

  
"Do you still want to join the Scouting Legion?"

  
Petra leaned in from behind the building where she was. She took out a notebook Section Commander Hanji provided her with and placed the piece of charcoal on the paper. 

  
". . . My goals haven't changed."

  
"Do you want to join and kill Titans?"

  
She quickly wrote that down before stopping at what she heard next.

  
"I wanted to before. . . I just. . . I want to know where they come from, now. They are important, aren't they?"

  
Petra blinked. His voice wavered as he said that. He seemed. . . saddened by it. If Captain Levi is right, then he sympathized with them since he cried in Trost. 

  
His next line was firm, "I do want to join the Scouting Legion. I want to help them. I may have been placed 5th in the Top Ten, but I'm not going to join the Military Police. Not the Garrison either, even though it'd be fine as well. I'd rather die a death of bravery then living behind the walls and letting people die outside like a coward. I want. . . to be free."

  
Well, damn.

  
Petra wrote a few things down again. If he does still want to join the Legion despite, then it's possible that he wants to drop the mortality rates among them. Not to mention he can control Titan's, so he would just get them to leave. 

  
Petra closed the notebook and placed it into her breast pocket, figuring that it was enough for today.

* * *

  
"He wants to join the Scouting Legion?" Erwin asked, reading over the notes Petra had brought. 

  
The redhead nodded, "He knows that he's being followed, and yet he still wants to join us." 

  
Erwin let out a small smile. If he joined, then more and more soldiers would come back. But it was rather difficult. He probably only transformed in Trost because a human scream wouldn't get across like a Titan one. They also had that long-distance formation, so would it work?

  
Erwin passed the notebook back to Petra, "Thank you for your work, Petra. Next one is Eld."

* * *

  
Eld believed that Eren's relationships with people wouldn't be so important. Sure, he had a fiancé but did it really mean he would have to do it? When he asked Commander Erwin, the man looked him straight in the eye and said, "Yes." 

  
So here he was, spying on a teenage boy that had powers.

  
He had two best friends, one of which was his adoptive sister names Armin Arlert and Mikasa Ackerman. A close friend named Kare Milesworth. He seemed to be somewhat the 'mother' out of the Cadet Corps, butted heads with Jean Kirstien. Had a strange love-hate relationship with Ymir, a brotherly one with Krista Lenz. 

  
That was what he gathered. Currently he was around the corner, somehow unnoticed since he was on the ceiling. He, currently, was also spying on a conversation Ackerman, Arlert, and Jaeger were having. They were quiet before someone raised their voice.

  
"—if they hurt you!?"

  
It was Ackerman's voice.

  
"They aren't going to hurt him, Mikasa." Arlert calmed the girl down. Ah, so they did know that Eren had these powers. But for how long? The most likely possibility is that when they met Eren. But that didn't explain where he got his powers from.

  
"What about psychological torture!?" Okay, Ackerman was really protective of Eren.

  
"As if. I just want to—" Jaeger began only to freeze. Eld looked around the corner to see the brunette moving his hands in different positions. Ackerman replied the same way, and Arlert came after her.

  
Were they. . . signing!?

  
Eld quickly began to draw the position of their hands, arms, and whatever body part they placed their hands on. After a series of this, they all stopped. 

  
Well, shit.

* * *

  
"Sign language?" 

  
Erwin looked at the drawings on the notebook, carefully attempting to decipher them. 

  
"Yes, Commander. They also probably knew that I was there, so they switched to talking in sign language. Sign language hasn't really been used in a long time, but they bothered to learn it."

  
The closed door rattled. Eld lifted the lock and Hanji came crashing in. "Sorry! I heard sign language!" 

  
"Do you know what most of these mean?" Erwin held up the notebook. Hanji leaned in, adjusting their glasses carefully.

  
"Huh. . . this is a old version of it."

  
"Wait, old?" Eld looked on in disbelief, "But most of those records are lost!"

  
Erwin passed the notebook to Hanji, who took it graciously. "I know! That's what makes it so exciting!" They let out a sigh, "I'm. . . going to have a hard time translating it. I hope you don't mind, Commander."

  
"It's fine, Hanji. You need to be accurate, take as much time as you need."

* * *

  
Hanji and Moblit looked at the drawings, well, mostly Hanji while Moblit was finding every kind of sign language and Titan book he could find. He was skimming through all of the all of the signing ones in order to try and match a few of them with the drawings in the paper.

  
Hanji left their spot on the table for a moment. Then they grabbed their hair and began to tangle their hands in it while screaming the whole time.

  
"Section Commander! Calm down!" Moblit pleaded, dropping the books and grabbing their hands. A creak of the door, and Levi peaked through, "Hey, Shitty Glasses! Keep it down! I, at least, want to actually try and get some sleep."

  
Hanji wanted to scream louder before they laughed. Moblit let go of their hands while Levi promptly closed the door.

  
"This is amazing! I never thought they could actually learn old sign language! HAHA!"

  
Moblit backed away from Hanji. Hanji got excited very easily, but this Hanji was very, very excited. Moblit prayed for safety. Hanji may be the scariest when angry, but even more so when they are excited.

  
He prayed for Eren's safety of he did decide to go through with joining the Scouting Legion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I make a part 2 of the stalking?
> 
> Unrelated, but Historia was wearing the same thing she usually wore when she still lived in the barn. Eren was wearing his father's coat and something very similar to Frieda's outfit when she would visit Historia.


	18. Eren Gets Stalked Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter

They never stopped following him. Ever. At all.

  
Why.

  
He should've been more careful but he wasn't because he was a reckless idiot that thought the steam could cover him up. But he wasn't.

  
If they were following him, might as well have some fun while he was at it.

* * *

  
Oluo dragged himself to Commander Erwin's office, covered in muck and probably drivel. The notebook, somehow, was left unharmed with all of its contents intact. 

  
The brat was a demon. In the figurative sense, but he was still a demon.

  
Oluo opened the door to the Commander's office, his back sore and his legs worn out. Erwin turned to face him, his hands folded under his chin like usual.

  
Erwin blinked at the mess Oluo was covered in. It consisted of feathers, some mud, very, very dirty flowers, and finally: CHEESE. Yes, cheese. That delicious stuff you put on your food. 

  
Oluo threw the somehow-still-intact-notebook on the Commander's desk before wobbling away to clean up. He left a trail of flowers on his way, which Erwin mentally noted to get Levi to get rid of.

  
The blonde opened the notebook and his eyes scanned the pages.

  
**It's normal so far. Brat was just going out with his friends to walk about or something. Will write more if they do anything suspicious.**

  
That was normal. So why was Oluo covered in that stuff? Erwin read more and understood why.

  
**Commander, the kids a actual demon. He didn't do anything to Petra or Eld, but he messed with me. He KNEW I was there. He was out today with his two friends, who were gathering things for my demise.**

**The blonde one, Arumin? He bought some flowers and dirtied them using mud while wearing gloves. The girl gathered mud and made it harder. The brat just bought some feathers and pocketed two of them but left the others alone. He also snatched some from birds. The cheese was him saying it was a ingredient or something.**

**And that's when my demise was sent in motion.**

**The brat managed to come up behind me and throw melted cheese all over my clothes before throwing the feathers at me and running away. Then the girl threw MUD at me before slinging away on a rope.**

**I thought the blonde kid would spare me.**

**But I fell into his trap.**

**I tripped and the flowers fell on me, with pollen.**

**I looked up and realized that there was honey.**

**It's probably being devoured by some bees.**

**Commander, these kids are fucking monsters, seriously.**

  
Oh.

  
Oh damn.

  
Erwin certainly didn't expect that.

  
However, it was possibly coordinated. The other two bought time for their friend to create his trap so they went first. Jaeger had managed to fake out Oluo and went first, then Ackerman, then Arlert.

  
They reminded Erwin of him, Hanji, and Levi. Well. Kind of.

* * *

  
WHAT THE FUCK!?

  
Gunther had managed to duck down from a bucket full of water that was activated when he stepped into the forest where Jaeger, Arlert, Ackerman, Milesworth were in. He looked around for a moment, wondering when the gremlins would strike next. What would they do? Try to dissect him? Knock him out? Make him trip into a merchants place?

  
When he saw nothing, he began to write.

  
**Almost got doused with water, clearly from the friends. Oluo was right, Commander, they are demons. They know that I'm here.**

**Maybe I should**

  
He stopped writing when he suddenly smelt something sweet fill his nostrils. It smelled, really good. . . like something you would run into your home to when you were a kid. Mist began to come in, and the sweet smell began to grow in abundance.

  
Gas!?

  
The soldier covered his mouth immediately, setting the notebook in the crook of his arm before writing.

  
**Gas! Fucking gas! They rigged the place! It doesn't look or smell like any like we studied. I'd say mustard, but it didn't have a immediate effect on me, so**

* * *

  
Far away but not that far, four cadets watched as the soldier kept on writing. The 'gas' was well made — thank you Armin — and they were surprised that a experience soldier managed to fall for it.

  
Kare stared at the sugar mixed with water that they managed to convert into gas. He thought that the soldier would immediately fall for it and run out, but he didn't. Huh. 

  
"Y'know, we could just dump another bucket of water on him. Or you could use the feathers and mud from before with that other one," Kare suggested.

  
Armin spoke up, "No. We went overkill, or Eren went overkill—" the brunette chuckled a bit in embarrassment. "—during that. We should just use your former suggestion and dump water on him." 

  
Mikasa held held up the spare bucket they had and slowly crept alongside the trees. The soldier had put the notebook back in a safety pouch that included waterproofing. Sighing, she dumped the water.

  
The soldiers scream could've been passed for a Titan.

* * *

  
Gunther came in, slammed the notebook on the desk, and walked away. 

  
Erwin looked at the dry notebook and Gunther before sighing. 

  
They should stopping stalking them or their soldiers are going to go crazy.

* * *

  
He stopped being stalked.

  
YES!

  
Mission Accomplished!

  
Eren let himself be carefree, not caring about the strange looks he was given. He was free! Free! Free to do things without anyone watching him! 

  
That was, until he used his hearing. 

  
They hid their footsteps well enough, but Eren could still hear them. He could also smell a cleaning product.

  
God fucking dammit. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Armin was the one who converted the thing into gas. How?
> 
> Cause he's Armin fucking Arlert.
> 
> Kare also subconsciously knows, but he doesn't want to know that Eren is a shifter. I mean it's pretty unbelievable. He also joined in with messing with Gunther cause he got bored and my Kare gets bored very easily at times.


	19. The Owl Returns

_Oh my god, look at him._

  
_Why are his eyebrows so big?_

  
_His eyebrows are big enough to hold the history of Eldia in them._

  
_. . . My son is trying to concentrate. Please, stop._

* * *

  
Erwin thought back to the graduation ceremony, where the new recruits were scared but still saluted. Some with faces of resignation, some with faces of confidence, but only one of sadness.

  
They had gotten more recruits then usual. In fact, they got most of the Top Ten excluding Jean Kirstien, Marco Bott, and Annie Leonhardt. But it was only thanks to that Rogue that they were able to have this many recruits. 

  
The Commander then stared at the notebook in his hand, which was joint-filled with Hanji's and Levi's notes. According to them, Jaeger may have knew that they were there but didn't try anything unlike with Bossard and Shultz. 

  
He also seemed more emotionless. According to past reports, Jaeger's entire body language, manner of speech, and personality would completely change. 

  
He would at times act like he was a King, all sophisticated and formal manner of speech. This was only towards people he was not close with, or so Hanji had observed. When someone was harassing another or threatening other person, he would act distant but calmly push the aggressor away. His eyes were dead, nothing was held in them at all.

  
Other times he would be compassionate, whispering about peace and love. Other moments had him act like a doctor whenever another cadet was injured. He would then revert back to his normal self.

  
If he wasn't so needed by them, then he would've probably be needed to go in a hospital. Seriously, he was crazy sane.

  
A small hoot came from his window, followed by a series of pecks. Erwin turned around to see a Snow White owl with a letter around its neck. It was pecking the window hard enough to cause noise, but not break it. 

  
Erwin opened the window and the owl brandished its neck towards him. He picked the letter off from its feathery pillar, where it gave a happy hoot before flying away, leaving a feather behind.

  
Erwin stared at the letter before opening it. The letters were blocky, but still easy to read. At the end of the paper, there was a signature. The introduction was short, but left a ominous feeling to it.

  
**Greetings, Commander Erwin Smith**

  
**I am the Owl**

* * *

  
Eren let out a yawn as he got up from his position from the desk from the new bunks they had gotten. There was paper and ink, but he didn't know why they were there. In fact, after they joined the Legion, he felt more otherworldly and just. . . passed out. 

  
He let out a soft yelp when a white owl came and nestled herself onto his shoulder. Oh! It was the owl that Krista had befriended and took a liking to him. The owl rubbed her head against his hair, making him laugh as he placed a hand on her head.

  
The door opened to reveal Sasha, "Eren! We're having dinner!" Surprisingly, she did not, in fact, try to tackle his owl and eat it. If she did, then Eren would've commanded her to not eat meat at all. That would be a nightmare for Sasha.

  
_Not like she would get close._

  
The owl hooted again before settling herself onto one of the bunks, probably claiming it as Eren's as her human walked out of the door.

* * *

  
Levi kicked the door to Erwin's office down, and he was greeted with the sight of Hanji and a few of Erwin's most trusted people. Hanji had a solemn look on their face, holding a paper. The others had different looks varying of shock, sadness, or something unreadable.

  
Hanji shoved the paper towards Levi, who took it with silence. After several minutes of reading, he looked up at Erwin who had his hands folded underneath his chin. 

  
"Is this true, Erwin?"

  
Oh. He called him by name.

  
"We don't know for sure yet, but we know that this 'Owl' seems to want to help us and yes, that Jaeger is the rogue from Trost and that there are more like him. They'll tell us more when the time is needed."

  
"Well, why won't this Owl tell us right now?" Levi asked, crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

  
"Most likely because they couldn't tell us before, or they were waiting until after a few days of Trost to reply," Hanji offered, taking back the letter from Levi and folding it neatly and putting it in front of Erwin. "You got to keep clean after all."

  
One of them — Nifa, right? — raised her hand, "Don't you think it's weird that this Owl knows more then us? Like how there's life outside of the walls? Why do they know this but not us?"

* * *

  
Outside, Eren's empty eyes turned furious. Kruger scowled. Stupid King. His definition of 'peace' and 'paradise' is one of the most stupidest things he had heard since Marleyan Propaganda. 

  
'It's because Karl was a dick and wanted 'peace' that resulted in us being ignorant.'

  
The royal one's had nothing to say at that. Which was strange, because ever since they came together they just kept on arguing and arguing until they saw Ymir. Then, they went silent. Only occasionally they would speak up, but the past few days they've been silent.

  
Kruger took out another piece of paper, a quill, and began to write, his owl watching his every move.

* * *

  
A swish.

  
They all stopped talking and looked at the window sill, where the owl was. This time, the letter was in its beak. It went up to Erwin and dropped it, where the commander took it and read it out loud. The owl then flew away.

  
"Because the first king, Karl Fritz erased your memories. He erased every memory from the outside except for a certain clan that was his bodyguards. The clan was then hunted for several years until one of the Founders befriended Kenny Ackerman—"

  
Erwin stopped when he heard a small crash. He looked up from the letter to see Levi having a hand on the doorframe, his usual hard, steely eyes wide with shock. The captain then exhaled harshly before repositioning himself, "Continue."

  
All of them looked at Levi strangely before Erwin decided he would grill on him later before reading again, "And stopped the persecution of the Ackerman's."

  
This was a lot of information to take in, and in such a short time as well.

  
Levi suddenly went towards the window and peeked outside, his eyes darted at every nook and cranny he could see. After that, he opened the door and stuck his head out. No one was there. 

* * *

  
A few more letters came in, and more and more information had to be taken in. When Erwin wrote a letter that he then gave to the owl asking for some time to process. A letter came back that explained why they can't give them a chance to take everything in. 

  
They had to memorize everything quickly, since Eren was coming up with his own plans and ready to put them into action. They had to follow along, since Eren didn't trust them fully yet. Heck, he was even scared of them for a bit.

  
Erwin understood why. To have people stalking you was probably not the brightest idea of his, and that's coming from the guy who has balls of steel and could come up with winnable plans in every unwinnable situation. 

  
Right now, however, they needed Eren to trust them. Even if it was built up slowly, even if he only trusted them a little bit, even if they needed time, they would get them to trust him. 

* * *

  
"We need to talk to you, Jaeger."

  
Eren felt his soul leave his body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can leave names for the owl in the comments if you want to! 
> 
> And yes, the past users of both the Attack ans Founding Titan will play much larger roles.


	20. The One Where They Confront Each Other

They know. 

  
Of course they fucking know! They've been stalking him! Deadass!

  
He could smell cleaning things on this guy, and immediately realize that he was the one stalking him before, the one he couldn't find at all. It was also utmost possible that this guy was a Ackerman, if he tried to run then this guy could just tackle him and forcefully bring him. But he didn't want to go, shit, what does he do!?

  
_Go._

_  
Are you crazy!?_

_  
Grisha, he's screwed either way. He already hates looking in mirrors for too long, handcuffs, being tied down, and betrayal. He doesn't need one more thing to hate. Our memories already traumatized him enough._

_  
Fine. . ._

  
'Don't be so loud.'

  
Reluctantly, Eren followed the short man.

* * *

  
The midget kicked open the door in a show of strength, seeing how Eren just looked at the now-opened door that was just barely hanging off its hinges. As if he was expecting it. The soldier walked into the room and looked at the brat, "Fucking come in. What, you constipated?"

  
 _He learned from Kenny_. Uri's soft voice flowed through, a affectionate undertone with it. Right, Kenny's host had been Uri and they had known each other well enough. 

  
Eren could hear his dad and Frieda saying reassuring things to him, such as 'calm down' and 'don't run away, they aren't going to hurt you'. When they first talked, Eren felt scared and wondered if he was hearing voices. But he wasn't at all. They were still there, and they were helping him. 

  
Or that was probably him trying to convince himself. 

  
"Brat, I said get in. You too busy shitting yourself?" 

  
Eren huffed a sigh and walked inside, carefully closing the door behind him. 

  
"Hey, Levi," the person that wanted to capture him whined, their goggles replaced with glasses, "How many times have we said not to kick the door down?" 

  
"The rest of you touched it. I'm not getting my hands filled with filth." 

  
_He was raised underground_ , Uri supplies, He hates filth because of that.

  
'Why isn't the 'king' helping them, then?'

  
. . . _He doesn't care, Eren. The government doesn't care. They only care for themselves._ Marianna, a Attack Titan shifter answered his question with distaste. _I never thought the Eldians in the wall wouldn't care._

  
Fingers are snapped in front of him. He looked up to see Erwin Smith — he also ignores the quips and questions about his eyebrows — who introduces everyone in the room, Moblit, Hanji, Levi, Nifa. Then he holds one of Kruger's letter in front of him. He already knows what it says, or at least a summary of it. A quick look told him it was about the other Titans and their powers. 

  
But Erwin drew his attention to the signature, fancy letters signed 'The Owl'.

  
"Do you know who the Owl is?"

  
Oh.

  
 _They'll see if you lie_. His father says. 

  
"Yes, I do but. . . I don't want to disclose their identity."

  
'Uri. Stop rubbing off me, by the name of Maria.'

  
You have our memories. 

  
'>:('

  
He heard a small yelp. Oh. So his anger carried into his mind. Also, how the fuck did he manage to do that? Seriously, it made no sense at all.

  
"Brat," Levi said, elbowing him. 

  
Eren locked himself out of his thoughts to see Erwin holding another letter up. Hanji visibly became more upset, their brow becoming furrowed and their eyes slanted. Suddenly, they grabbed Eren by his wrist and dragged him out before. They ignored his protests and the scolding behind both of them. Particularly Moblit's. 

  
They brought him to the stables, where they got out a horse while the other cadets watched. Hanji forced him onto the horse before getting on before him. With a quick snap of the rope, the horse ran. 

  
The horse was fast, swiftly jumping over sticks, ditches, and potholes as Eren clung onto Hanji, the solemn expression never leaving their face.

* * *

  
Finally, they arrived at a place where several Garrison soldiers were stationed at. Behind them were two Titan's, a blonde one and a black haired one. Captured ones. 

  
Eren got off the horse and walked toward them absentmindedly while Hanji tied their horse. 

  
He looked at them, that look of sadness and regret still on their face standing out at the Garrison's confused ones. Hanji waved their hand and they went away. 

  
Then it clicked.

  
"You— you didn't know, Section Commander—" he attempted, only to be interrupted. He was disturbed yes, but they didn't know that they used to be humans at all. They only saw Titans as Titans until Kruger's letters came in.

  
"I still experimented on them!"

  
"You were curious!" 

  
"That doesn't make it any better!" They placed a hand on their face. After a moment, they looked up at the two Titans who were panting heavily and drooling at them. Eren turned around and looked at the two Titans and suddenly, they were trying to kneel down and show respect. 

  
THE HELL!?

  
'THEY CAN SENSE THE FOUNDING TITAN!?'

  
 _. . . I guess?_ Frieda attempted to confirm, which was clearly broken because of the fact her voice had a questioning vibe. 

  
Great. 

  
Eren exhaled slowly before approaching the two Titan's. He raised a hand and softly placed it onto the blonde ones hand. He squeezed the large appendage before looking up into their eyes. No, not their, her eyes. With a quick look into her memories, he saw that she wasn't from Marley. Rather, she was a Eldian in hiding. But someone had found out and dragged her to Marley. There, she was titantized. 

  
And in her eyes were suffering and sadness. She opened her mouth and murmured, "Fou. . . der. . ."

  
Hanji jumped back in surprise. Eren, however, kept still. 'It responded to him? How? Did he will it to talk?' No... Not it. Them. 

  
Eren then turned to the black-haired one and pressed a hand against his forehead. It moved a bit, but didn't try to make the brunette chow. Instead, he closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. 

  
Several more horse steps followed suddenly, and then there was Moblit, Levi, Nifa, and Erwin on their own horses. Moblit was scolding Hanji currently while the rest looked at the two Titans. Nifa then spoke up,

  
"Why not feed Reiner and Bertolt to both of them?"

  
"Bad idea," Eren rejected, "Annie will immediately know what's going on when she stops getting letters with their handwriting not the same as usual. I could've erased her memory before, but she's too smart for that shit. She would know if she suddenly had a gaping hole in her memory."

  
"So," Levi crossed his arms and leaned against a tree, "What do you have in mind, brat?"

  
"Well. . ."

* * *

  
Reiner blinked when he suddenly felt a forehead against his. For a moment, all was silent. 

  
'Wait, who was the Coordinate again?'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eren knows of the past shifters because he found them talking to each other. It's how he found his dad and learned of Zeke so ye.
> 
> Also, the mirror bit?
> 
> Marianna went through some tough stuff.
> 
> You can also STILL request for chapter ideas.


	21. The One Where Erwin and Eren Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just posted a partner-fic to this called 'Days in Between'. Basically they are side stories and possible what ifs I couldn't fit in The Girl Who Scuplts.
> 
> I would also like to clarify that Eren does still visit Ymir. Just because it isn't written doesn't mean it happened.

"The outside world. How did you know about it?"

  
Erwin asks as they are left alone in his office. Eren turned his eyes to the coach before steeping backwards onto it, saying, ". . . A book." 

  
"Book?"

  
A small smile came on Eren's face. Most people would brush it off as a smile of nostalgia and happiness. Erwin, however, saw that the smile wasn't that. It was one of someone forcing one, one of someone being tired of almost everything.

  
"We read a book about it one day. Fields of sand," the smile became more tired and seemingly lovingly, "Rivers of fire," narrowed eyes, "And water full of salt. So much salt that merchants could never take it all out. There's also. . ."

  
A furious frown, "People."

  
_How do we know that there isn't life outside the walls?_

  
"They want to kill us," Erwin says. Eren crossed his legs and huddled into himself, vocalizing confirmation. "For something that happened years ago?"

  
"It's stupid," the brunette growls, "We don't remember anything at all. Yet they still think that we're Devils thanks to a certain bastard 'king' enslaver that expanded his empire out of sheer fucking greed. Sins of our ancestors don't apply to people that don't have any kind of recollection at all."

  
"They are just trying to survive."

  
"Yeah, in the worst way possible, Commander." Eren's tone became more and more agitated with each word. "They claim that they are oppressed when they literally oppress Eldians just because of their race. One toe out of line? Boom! Torture! Their rules are fucking bullshit. Heck, they won't even become Honorary Marleyans because of their race!"

  
A strong sense of rebellion and a strong want for freedom is what Erwin gathered from that little rant. Quickly, he diverted the boys anger by asking what else is that this land called 'Paradis' has.

  
"Our land is rich in fossil fuels. Iceburst stone being valuable to them apparently. I have no idea how they learned of it. We also have other fuels and rare ores like methane. We also have a different form of coal that can go on for days and days at a time. Unlike most coals that can only go one for a few hours."

  
A few more questions were asked: Nations, Hiruzu, Eldia, The Nine Titans, The real Royal Family, some of the past users. This continued on and on until suddenly, Eren fell asleep on the couch.

  
'I may have tired him out with all that questioning.' 

  
Someone came through the door, which that someone was Nifa. She then pointed at the asleep Eren, confused. 

  
"He got tired and fell asleep," 

  
"Oh," 

  
"Nifa, can you please fetch someone to carry him to his bunk? I don't want to do it because it'll probably make me look very, very out of place."

  
She was gone for a moment before another cadet came in with slicked back dark hair and amber eyes. He saluted, to which Erwin pointed at the still-asleep Eren who had changed into a more comfortable position. 

  
The soldier looked at the Commander with a look of puzzlement.

  
The Commander shook his head and just stated, "Dorm." 

  
The soldier then picked up Eren bridal style before running out of the office. 

  
'Well, that was a field trip.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Marley is just trying to survive, but sometimes they just frustrate me. Also yes, the guy at the end was Kare.


	22. The One With The Female Titan, Part 1

Erwin just wanted to prove his the— no, his father's theory to be correct. He found the proof, he found out what was beyond the walls. What was beyond the Titan's. What was beyond their understanding. 

  
He felt no appeal now. 

  
Everything he had thought to be was true. All of it was. So what was the point in doing this anymore? 

  
_"Everyone has to be a slave to something, I guess. Mikasa wants to protect me and Armin, Kare wants to find and kill the Armoured Titan in the name of revenge, Bertolt, Reiner, and Annie are loyal to Marley; The Founding Titan's are under the first Kings will. Levi wants to protect you because your his host, Hanji probably wants to learn everything outside the walls now that they have stopped experimenting—"_

_  
"And you?"_

_  
"Huh?"_

_  
"What are you a slave to?"_

_  
". . . Myself, Commander."_

  
That conversation they had before Eren fell asleep made him think. A motivation to rely on, wether it be a goal, a person, or someone else. 

  
Erwin would find something to live for.

  
Even if he died. Even he didn't know when he would die. 

  
Erwin would find a motivation. 

* * *

  
Eren stared at the gates, his eyes dead with his braid occasionally tickling his exposed skin. He blinked slowly until he heard a small gasp of a little kid, to which he turned and forced a nod to him. He then looked at the gate again, looking from where he was sandwiched in between Moblit and Hanji before the gate opened. 

  
He grabbed the reins. 

  
He snapped the ropes.

  
And his horse ran. 

* * *

  
There were Titan's running towards Annie. Not with the intent of eating, but with the intent of capture. 

  
Not like she knew that.

  
She pressed her upper body forward until she was in a plank position before running, her eyes looking around in confusion. Reiner had wrote that it was the second-to-bottom right wing, she should've seen soldiers. 

  
Yet no one was there. Everything was completely barren. There was no signs of any soldiers, horse steps, or 3DMG. 

  
Was he lied to? 

  
No. 

  
'I probably read it wrong. That long-distance formation is so strange that there are to many squads in several places at once.'

  
As she ran, the smell of flesh filled her nostrils. She ran towards that direction and found a few soldiers on their horses galloping away from a steaming carcass. 

  
'Ah.' 

  
She ran towards the soldiers, watching as one of them had their hood pulled down due to the breeze to reveal a single braid and a mope of brown hair. Revealing Eren. Her target, the coordinate. 

  
A smile stretched onto her lips, and she ran. Knock him out. Put him in your mouth, then rendezvous with Reiner and Bertolt. Then run to Marley. She would see him again, her dad!

  
Suddenly, more footsteps were towards her. She looked behind to see several Titan's coming at her, attempting to catch up to her with their strange forms, some of them being Aberrants. 

  
When she looked ahead, the soldiers and Eren were further ahead of her. 

  
Shit.

  
The footsteps of the Titan's grew louder and louder. 

  
Shit!

  
Titan's, a shifter, and target in the same place. 

  
SHIT!

  
The soldiers snapped their ropes harder and their horses ran faster as the Titan threat grew closer and closer to her. She looked behind herself for a few moments before looking ahead to see that they were almost gone into the forest. Then, they were gone. 

  
They were in the forest. 

  
Annie bent her body forward once more and ran. 

* * *

  
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. 

  
The footsteps grew louder. 

  
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. 

  
The soldiers looked at the Female Titan that ran through the trees, followed by several other Titan's. 

  
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. 

  
And they attacked. 

  
Only to find themselves back at the trees they were standing in. They looked at the Titan's following the Female and readied to attack once more, only to find themselves stopped by a unknown force.

  
"What the fuck?" Kare whispered, watching them. He readied his own blades only to be stopped like them. He turned to look at Ymir and Armin and asked, "Did you feel that to?"

  
Both of them nodded, Ymir's nod was confused while Armin's seemed to understand something. 

  
'Oh. Oh. Ooooohhhhh. . .'

  
He kind of got it now. 

* * *

  
Eren sighed as he jumped off of his horse and hooked himself into a tree with one wire. Then he used the other wire to shoot it in front of him — where the restraints were. He quickly unhooked the first wire and turned to face the eyes of the Female Totan. He masked his calculating eyes with fear as he made it looked like he was petrified and in shock. 

_  
Be calm, follow Commander Erwin's plan, and don't be reckless._

  
'Don't need to tell me that, Adam!'

  
He let out a few chutes of gas as he mentally counted how many seconds he was in the air. 

  
14.

  
He could hear the veterans readying the restraints. 

  
15.

  
Looking into the eyes of Annie, Eren let his membranes fold over his eyes. 

  
16.

  
She reached a hand out. 

  
17.

  
He let out another chute of gas. 

  
18.

  
The restraints were ready.

  
19.

  
The veterans hid. 

  
20.

  
Eren let himself fall down as Erwin shouted in that incredible leader voice of his, "FFFFIIIIRRRREEEE!!!" Eren screamed a command to the Titan's at the same time, watching as they ran out of the forest. 

  
The soldiers quickly pulled the triggers as Annie folded one hand over her nape. Eren could see the pain and anger on her face as each cable embedded itself into her skin, tightening as they were deep enough. More and more steam emitted from her wounds as she protected her nape. 

  
Finally, the gunpowder and cables stopped firing as Eren shot himself up to a tree where Hanji was. They laughed in triumphant for a bit as Eren stared at them, "Of course Commander Erwin's plan would work!" 

* * *

  
"We've got orders. Your supposed to stay here and get the attention of the Titan's. If they immediately go for the Female, kill them." 

  
"Officer!"

  
Kare landed behind Krista and Armin as he went into the edge of the forest. Armin was silent to his approach, instead focusing on something else. Krista looked at Kare and asked, "How's the situation? We only just got what happened."

  
"Nobody died," Kare replies, "They managed to capture the Female as well. So that has to count for something, right?" 

  
"Thank goodness," it wasn't forced this time. Krista was actually happy that people survived instead of being apathetic to it, "Did the Commander know that it would appear?"

  
"Most likely," Armin speaks up, "We were told to immediately go to the forest instead of scouting the area."

  
"That doesn't explain why we couldn't fight those other Titan's that came in," Krista brought up, "Do you also think that something lead the Female here?" 

  
Armin's body went rigid at the question before he quickly attempting to get out a theory, "It probably was trying to kill the scouts, since they kill the Titan's the most. It probably also brought the Titan's here, since it wasn't seen before."

  
Kare listened to Armin's response, noting how his voice wavered at times. He would've brushed it off as nervousness but no. It was a lie. 

  
It was a lie. 

* * *

  
Eren stared at Annie's face, which had the grimace of fury alongside gritting teeth. But she wasn't moving at all. She was just taking it, one hand up on her nape while the other hung limply at her side. 

  
Levi landed on her hand and began to stomp on it, quizzing her and threatening her at times. But she never did anything unlike Erwin thought she would. Instead, she just stood there and took it, her face relaxing slowly.

  
"Hey, are you listening to me?" Levi barked louder. She moved her head a bit, but there was nothing else. Levi rolled his eyes before looking at Erwin and gesturing 'B' before continuing his threats. The Commander snapped his fingers, and Eren put on his hood before soaring towards Annie. He raised a hand, ready to put her into delirium and erase her memory. 

  
When she raises her limp hand and caught his wire. She grasped it tightly before throwing Eren, causing him to shout in surprise and attempt to make her forget with his voice this time. With each passing second, he was getting further and further away from Annie until she as almost nothing more then just a blonde dot. 

  
He quickly managed to regain control of this and attempted to hook himself to a tree—

  
But his back hit another tree. He gasped in pain as he felt a sickening crack echo, "Guh—" he began to heal, but he felt his body quickly begin to give into the pain of the broken spine and the hot steam that he was emoting. He fell onto the branch before his back was exposed to the world as he felt himself slowly fade away. 

  
He couldn't hear Ymir's frantic urges to get up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DID YOU THINK IT WOULD BE FINE??
> 
> DID YOU??
> 
> WELL IT ISN'T!!
> 
> HAHHAHAHAHA!! 
> 
> Also. Eren had Bertolt and Reiner give a false version of the long distance formation. Almost everything changed except the spot where Hanji, Moblit, and Eren were. Annie just had to look further to see them lol.


	23. The One With The Female Titan, Part 2

"Get up! Please, Eren, get up!" Ymir shouted as she finished creating Eren's broken spine. He had to get up, he has to! He can't just die suddenly! He can't! 

  
He wasn't responding to her. 

  
But he wasn't dead. He was slipping in and out of delirium, fighting to stay conscious enough to get away or go back. But he was fighting a losing battle, one that Ymir couldn't break him out of. 

  
She remembered his owl, Sapphire. Apologizing, she took control. 

* * *

  
Every soldier that was near the Female covered their ears as she roared, preparing themselves for the Titan's that were about to come. Mike then landed and shouted that they were, in fact, coming after the Female was done her tantrum. 

  
Levi began to stomp on her head, "Fucking bitch. The hell you thinking? Calling some friends." He turned around and flicked his blades up in the air before shooting himself and began to slay with hesitation. 

  
He remembered a conversation he had with Hanji after finding out the truth. 'Your putting them out of their misery,' he constantly repeated in his mind. They were trapped in a purgatory. He was freeing them. 

  
He didn't know how many he killed when Erwin called for a drawback. He looked behind, the Female was gone. 

  
Fuck. 

  
His squad immediately took off, going to the direction where Eren and another scout had been, the scout had immediately followed Eren, but the Female probably had a damn good throw, since she never came back. 

  
Once again, Fuck. 

* * *

  
Kare looked back alongside Krista and Armin at the sudden human screams and blades, followed by a humongous Titan scream. He flipped his blades and was ready to run when a white owl landed on Krista's shoulder. 

  
The owl nipped her hair for a moment before flying and pecking at Kare's hair. "Christ! What the hell is with—" the owl tugged harder before suddenly flying off into a different direction. The group of three stared at the owl before the owl went back and screeched in their faces for a bit before flying off in that direction again.

  
They all then proceeded to follow the owl, confusion on their faces. 

* * *

  
Mikasa took out her own blades as she looked around, murmuring her confusion. Sasha held out a hand and shakily cried out, "Don't!" 

  
Before Mikasa could ask why, the girl began to explain, "It wasn't like the Rogue's. . . that wasn't a scream of command, it was a scream of someone that has nothing to lose! I know it! I've heard it before in my nightmares almost every night!" 

  
"So what of it?" 

  
"'What of it?'!? You have to be terrified! You can't know what's going to happen, Mikasa!" 

  
Mikasa was silent for a moment before saying, "Stay here."

  
"What!?"

  
"I said stay here. Like you said, we don't know what's going to happen. If that's the case, I don't want anyone that isn't confident enough to know what's not going to happen. The Legion has already lost too many soldiers, we don't need another few lost." 

  
She had learned to care for people. Not just Eren or Armin. Mikasa will look after everyone she has befriended. It doesn't matter who. She will protect them. 

* * *

  
The sound of wires and gas filled the air as the group followed the owl, with them sometimes seeing soldiers that were injured on the way. Krista attempted to patch them up as much as she could, but couldn't do much because of the limited materials. Because of that, most of them had to chew on willow bark — which Krista and Eren had gather together — to relieve the pain. 

  
Other then that, the owl kept on flying until they suddenly dove downwards onto a tree. On one of the branches was Eren, who was twitching and had his eyes blinking rapidly. The owl landed Eren and began to peck his body frantically. Kare felt the same emotion he felt as the Boulder came down, ready to smash his parents to nothing—

  
'Eren, Eren, Eren, Eren—'

  
"EREN!" Armin cried out as he went down. He landed on to branch roughly, Krista and Kare landing even more harshly then he did. Eren moves a bit at Armin's voice but otherwise made no move to get up. Krista moved him onto his back, her hands flinching away when a small hiss came from his mouth. 

  
She began to run her hands down his back, Armin's eyes looking from Eren to the tree. He then noticed the small amount of blood from the tree, connecting it to where he landed. 

  
His back— was it—

  
"Not. . . broken. . . " Eren managed out through the pain as Krista fed him some willow bark. He shakily raised a hand up and stroked his owl, to which they rubbed their head against his. "Female. . . threw me." 

  
At this point, the silent Kare suddenly turned around, his blades glinting in the limited light. Armin immediately shouted at him to stop, but he wasn't listening. The soldier was about to take off when he felt a tug at his cloak. 

  
It was Eren, whose back was being supported by Krista, who's hand was tugging at his cloak. Kare looked behind him for a bit before once again attempting to move again, but Eren's grip was surprisingly strong enough to hold him back. 

  
"Don't. . . you fucking dare. . . do what your about to do." 

  
Kare once again tugged, and Eren didn't budge. He held on tightly, not letting him move from his spot. Sighing, Kare gave in and picked him up, putting him on his back. 

  
"Yeah, make sure you don't get into a maneuvering accident like last time," Armin attempted to joke, trying to light up the situation, "It took a long time to untangle both of you from the wires."

  
Krista let out a small laugh as Kare stared and Eren clung onto the latter with a steel grip using his hands, wrapping them around Kare's neck. The owl rubbed their head against Eren's one more time before flying away. 

  
They all then took off. 

* * *

  
Mikasa looked on in horror at everything. Five bodies, each in different positions. A girl was laying on her back, attempting to get up but failing. A man beside her had one leg gone. Two other men had their legs in different positions. 

  
In the middle was the Female. 

  
Mikasa attacked. She threw herself towards the Female and attempted to cut her name, only for her blades to snap in half. She drew back to see something blue and illuminating cover the nape. The Female turned to look at her. It's (Her's?) eyes were trained on her. 

  
Mikasa growled. 'She can protect herself!? Then there's no way I can save these soldiers!' She suddenly heard something akin to gas, then a small group of two dark and two blonde hairs. The Female didn't turn. It either didn't noticed or thought Mikasa was a real threat. Suddenly, a hand poke out and signed, Can you distract her, sis?

  
Distract her. 

  
She could do that. 

  
Mikasa shot herself and whacked the Female in the head. The Titan covered it's nape before reaching out, all of it trained towards her. Her only, no one else. 

  
More wires suddenly came across, then a flash of red. Kare grunted as he landed on a branch, Eren and Krista following him suite by falling down and cutting her Achilles, his blades swiping through like butter. It fell down, it's hand hardening quickly. 

  
Immediately, Armin flew down while Krista, Kare, and Eren flew upwards and grabbed one of each of the soldiers, being mindful of their injuries. Mikasa looked at the Female and readied her own swords, only for Armin to sign not to. Mikasa looked back at the Female before giving in and grabbing another soldier as they all left the forest. 

  
She looked back and swore she could see tears coming out of the Female's gouged out eyes. 

* * *

  
'Shit, where the actual fuck is she?' Levi thought as he flew through the big ass trees, his eyes travelling everywhere. Goddamn Titan's eating her, then her transforming again. Distracting her with his threats didn't work. He swore that he would follow through on those threats, she had already injured or maimed too many soldiers already. 

  
He wouldn't let that happen again. Not again. 

  
His squad had went ahead to track her down, but she had immediately disappeared when Eren wasn't in the direction she threw him in. Fucking Leonhardt. She could be impersonating as a soldier, that shit would be hard. 

  
'She should've just made it easy and come out.' If she had come out, Eren wouldn't have been injured and so many scouts wouldn't be hurt. Fucking hell. 

  
There was a flutter of cloak behind a few trees, and Levi shot towards it. He swung himself around to see that it was his squad, being tended to currently by Historia, Eren, Armin, Kare and Mikasa. 

  
Eren's hand was over Oluo's mouth as he placed a steaming hand that was now a stump of his leg. It was bitten off, clearly. When Oluo still began to struggle, Eren just shoved a piece of cloth in his mouth before continuing. Historia was calming down Petra, who's back was being supported and— her back was broken. Meanwhile, Gunther had his legs bent in different places, and God, it was hard to see Kare and Armin attempting to calm him down. Lastly, Eld's legs were practically fucking hangers, with a broken arm to count. Just what the fuck happened? 

  
He wasn't there to help them like he should've done. He wasn't there. He put it too much trust in all of them. Just like with Farlan and Isabel. 

  
Levi summed up everything he thought about this in one word. 

  
"Fuck." 

  
Eren looked up at him drowsily. He had finally managed to cauterize Oluo's wound and was now fighting sleep, "Hello, Captain," he greeted, his voice tired as his look. 

  
"What happened?" Levi asked, landing on a branch, "Where is the Female?" 

  
Petra stopped chewing on a small portion of bark — who the fuck would do that? Shit is unsanitary — and spoke in a shaky voice, Historia comforting her the whole time. "We found her in the direction Eren was thrown. She— she smashed both of Eld's and Gunther's legs. She swatted me and bit off Oluo's leg," she began to shiver as Historia stroked her hair, "She was going to kill us if Ackerman had distracted her and Milesworth hadn't cut out her eyes, with Lenz and Jaeger cutting her heels," Petra looked down, "Captain. . . we. . . "

  
"We failed you, Captain," Gunther finishes, having managing to calm down. 

  
No. They didn't fail him. They tried and they tried, but everyone needs to be out of the picture someday. Nobody wants to die to fast. Nobody wants to fail. Yet it happens. 

  
"You didn't fail me," he spoke, "None of you did. You did what you had to do. You have dedicated all you have well. We will continue everything you have fought for." 

  
Those were promises he could keep. 

  
"Where is the Female now?" 

  
Mikasa pointed to his left, opposite from where he came from. He shot himself towards it, ignoring his squads frantic concerns. 

  
He did, however, hear Eren tell them that he would be fine. 

  
He sure as hell would be. 

* * *

  
It was just like Mikasa had pointed, the Female was still there, although she looked ready to run. He could see steam coming out of her eyes. He landed on a tree and began to look at Annie, his eyes cold and calculating. 

  
"It's not your style, is it? Remorse. You could be remorseful. You would've killed those good soldiers if we hadn't ordered them to be kept up in the trees."

  
He was wondering if he said before true. She probably did feel remorse. Or she didn't, and she enjoyed it. 

  
If she did enjoy it, then Levi would enjoy cutting up her Titan body then hacking off her limbs one by one, incredibly slow. 

  
He slipped himself off of the branch, watching as the Female immediately protected her nape and throwing a punch. He held one of his blades in a reverse grip deftly before rolling around her arm, cutting it up. 

  
With angry eyes, he propelled himself towards her eyes and stabbed them, discarding his dull blades at the same time. He could hear her grit her teeth in pain. Good. He equipped sharper blades before snaking around her body, letting his blades cut up every muscle he came into contact with until her arms fell down. She was left defenceless. 

  
He heard more gas and turned to see Eren, who immediately shot himself towards the immobile Annie, a hand stretched out. This time, his hand came into contact with her head. 

  
Confusion filled his eyes for a moment. Levi was about to ask why when Eren ran at her nape and dropped his own blades at what he saw. The nape was steaming. 

  
When Levi looked, her nape was wide and gaping, with Annie gone. 

* * *

  
That was close. Too close. 

  
Annie heaved as she hid behind a tree, looking from where that one soldier had cut her up. If she had been any slower, she would've died. 

  
She still had hours ahead of her. She could still steal Eren. She looked at her ringed finger before swiping her finger across the ring, watching as the blade came out. 

  
She then swiped her hand against it, and waited. 

  
Nothing happened. 

  
Her eyes widened in fear and she cut her hand again. Nothing happened. 

  
She had a purpose, a reason, the want. So why wasn't she transforming!? 

  
Annie shook her head. She would have to postpone everything. 

  
Fucking hell. 

* * *

  
Ymir spat some of her blood onto the sand. Pain really helped. She should've figured it out sooner, that she could fight off the urge to build with just some pain to distract her. 

  
Build. 

  
She bit her hand this time, quietly healing it. 

  
She doesn't want to be a slave anymore. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wonder what they gonna do now. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
> 
> Also, most of the soldiers were actually just knocked unconscious. A few of them died, but a lot less then canon. They can still fight, tho
> 
> Not the old special ops squad tho
> 
> Sorry


	24. The Aftermath and Planning

Most of the soldiers had only been injured, with most of them still being able to fight. Only a few of them had been killed, around 13 of them, in fact. Unlike most times, fleeing from the Titan's is a lot more easier now, since they just ignored all of them. But they needed to focus on Annie and capture her. 

  
They came back at the gates, noting how puzzlement and happiness filled some of the citizen's faces. Of course, only a few had died and most of them were injured, but everything is fine for the most part. 

  
A man came up and hugged Petra, asking how she was and how much she's hurting. He doesn't blame Levi at all, since he knows what his daughter had signed up for. But he's happy that's she alive, that's all that matters to him. Eld's fiancé also came up, fussing over him and his smashed legs, Gunther's family doing the same. Oluo's sister came up, asking why his legs looked strange, and he gave the best non-explicit answer he could. 

  
Other then that, almost everyone else is alive and not injured nor maimed. 

  
A few others came up, talking to either injured or not family members or friends. Those related to those that died mourn for them, but don't accuse anyone. 

  
For one of the first time in their lives, people cheered for the Legion. 

* * *

  
"We can't wait," Erwin says once they get back to HQ, "The Attack Titan can see the future, but we don't know where those events take place. Eren told me that he saw a destroyed city that looks like our usual ones, but it's not Trost. It's safe to assume that it is what will happen to one of the districts if we let Annie go."

  
"And?" Hanji asked. 

  
"'And?'"

  
"What if it isn't one of the cities? What if it's a past memory of the predecessors?"

  
Eren passed Levi a cup of black tea, "Every single nation has different kind of architecture. Ours are usually pavement, stones, bricks, and completely generic unless it's a apartment, then it's just a larger generic one. Then one in my memories is very similar to Shiganshina and Trost, just more white and a bit more high-class." 

  
"If that's the case," Levi says as he drinks the black tea, "Then we have to be ready. What's the plan, Erwin?" 

* * *

  
All of them stood at attention, looking at Commander Erwin Smith. Connie looked around and noted that Bertolt and Reiner were not present at all. He was about to ask Thomas when Erwin spoke in that booming voice of his. 

  
"We have been keeping information from you, as we thought that some of you were traitors!" A few of them were about to ask why, but Erwin began his exposition. 

  
"Five years ago, the Colossal and Armoured Titan broke down the gates! A about a month ago, they did so again, with only the Colossal this time. The Titan we attempted to capture was the one that brought all of the Titan's to the gates five years ago, as well! They are humans in Titan bodies! The Rogue from Trost that sealed the gate is also a human in a Titan body!" 

  
Almost immediately, questions arose, almost every one of them being direction at Erwin. He put up a hand for silence, and they did so begrudgingly.

  
"We know this because a informant called 'The Owl' has been giving us information! All of their information has been reliable thus far. We are going to tell you the identities of the Colossal, Armoured, Female, and Rogue! Or as the Owl calls the Rogue, the Attack."

  
All of them waited patiently. 

  
"Respectively, they are Bertolt Hoover, Reiner Braun, Annie Leonhardt, and Eren Jaeger!" 

  
Silence before all of the 104th began to shout their protests. The first three couldn't be the Titan's. Reiner was everyone's big brother! Bertolt was too shy and nervous! Annie couldn't have done it! The Owl was wrong! And what about Eren? Why wasn't he aligned with them? 

  
Connie leaned in towards Ymir and asked, "Is the Commander drunk as hell? I mean, there's no way that—"

  
"Shut up and listen, baldy," she growled back. 

  
Eren came up to the stage and with a quick swipe of a knife, blood came out of his hand. Then, it began to steam away. Just like a Titan's. It goes unsaid, but they all know what Eren wants to say, "That enough proof?" 

  
This couldn't be real. 

  
But the evidence is right in front of them. Eren had cut his hand and healed it just fine. Even though the blood didn't evaporate, the proof was still there. 

  
Humans could turn into Titan's. 

  
Erwin took over after letting the performance sink in. 

  
"Reiner and Bertolt have been captured already. Annie, however, is still outside. We have a plan to capture her, as well as a B and C if she decides to transform. Every single one of you will have a certain role to play. These will be your roles!" 

* * *

  
"This is fucking unbelievable. . ." Connie murmured after the meeting was adjourned. "To think that people could turn into Titan's. . ." a idea came to mind and he asked, "Armin, Mikasa, Kare, did you know about Eren?"

  
"Yes," Mikasa replied, completely blunt. 

  
"Then why didn't you tell us?" 

  
"It was Eren's secret to keep," Armin interjected, "We had no right to say anything about it. Nothing at all. It was his choice."

  
"I subconsciously knew, but I didn't want to believe it." Kare speaks his part before going silent. 

  
"That. . . makes sense," Sasha muttered. 

  
Ymir was quiet the whole time. Throughout the talk, throughout the questions, throughout everything. Krista looked up at her and tugged at her sleeve, asking if she is alright. Ymir sighed before kissing Krista's forehead and walking away, saying that she'll be back later. 

* * *

  
Ymir shoved the door open to Erwin's office, ignoring the sudden shouts of surprise. She looked at the blade that was placed on Erwin's desk. She grabbed it and calmly stabbed her hand before healing it. (She can't really know that a child helps her, murmuring to her that she shouldn't harm herself so much.) 

  
She looked up to see calculating faces looking up at her, and Eren had just noticed her. 

  
"I want to help you," she says, cleaning and giving the blade back, "for Krista. You must already know what my Titan is."

  
"The Jaws." Eren replies as he twirls the blade. "I know you aren't afflicted with those three nor Marlery. Okay, this is what we're going to do, Ymir," he pointed to the map, "we aren't allowed in the interior. But she's probably going to come here tomorrow to check on Reiner and Bertolt, if not then we—"

  
"Speaking of which," Ymir interrupts, "I know that you told us that they both are the Colossal and Armoured, but where are they?" 

  
Eren went silent for a moment.

* * *

  
Mouths gagged, fingers held by strings so that they couldn't self-harm. 

  
Captured. 

  
Restrained. 

  
In the dark. 

  
No sense of surroundings.

  
Only themselves and heavy breathing. 

* * *

  
"They won't be getting out," he finally states, "I tried to convince them to help us, but they wouldn't listen. We had to resort to. . . drastic measures."

  
Ymir shivered at the thought. Erwin continued where Eren left off, explaining Plan B and Plan C, how everything would work out. What is certain soldiers roles to play. 

  
Ymir had seen the Commander in action. She knew that this plan would work. 

* * *

  
Annie was worried. Bertolt and Reiner had not answered her letters at all. No little notes, nothing. When she sent a letter, either of them would reply quickly. But they didn't. Were they busy? They could handle themselves, but they needed to complete the mission given. 

  
Hitch came into their dorm and tossed Annie a letter, complaining about how they should've just dropped it off. Annie almost ripped in open, reading the contents. 

  
**Hey, Annie. We're fine. Sorry for not replying to you, we've been given a lot of work since they tried to capture you.**

**You should go to Sothess, we'll do our best to meet you there.**

**Reiner**

  
So they were fine. 

  
Despite that, Annie felt something was wrong. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I WONDER WHAT THEY GONNA DO
> 
> HMMMMMM


	25. The One With The Female Titan again, Part 1

Sothess. 

  
Hiding behind buildings or chimneys. 

  
Or hidden in plain sight.

* * *

  
The buildings were like the interior, very lush and white unlike the other districts. The citizens also wore somewhat of high-class clothing, made of fabric that didn't rip easily. 

  
She walked around the town, occasionally hearing different footsteps behind her. Whenever she looked, there was no one out of place. Then again, they could be hidden in plain sight. 

  
She walked towards a bar, thirsty. 

* * *

  
Eyes followed Annie's every move, drinking water. They stared at her. 

  
The plan had to be set in motion soon. 

* * *

  
"Limeade, please." A flash of cash.

  
The bartender passed her one, and she drank it. She had to admit, the Eldians had better food and drinks then in Marley. She chugged it until it was empty, and the bartender took it from her. 

  
She looked around, noting how some of them had their hoods up. Why would anyone have their hoods up unless they were a wanted criminal? One of them brought down their hoods and revealed a perfectly average guy. 

  
Huh. 

  
Annie walked out of the bar. 

* * *

  
She left the bar. A few seconds later, they did so as well. 

  
They quickly used their hidden gear to go up onto the buildings, following her. 

  
Near the place, as they peaked out the window. 

  
Ready, set, action. 

* * *

  
Annie walked throughout the town, watching everyone closely. A sudden ruckus came from a place, and she walked towards it. Another bar. 

  
It was a girl, with long, brown hair. She was wearing a backless dark sea foam dress, golden chains hanging off of her waists. The front was split, but not enough to see up, her neck to back to arms were covered in fishnets. She was also wearing green tights with black shoes, there was also black gloves, descending from her forearm to her fingers. She was also tugging at someone who is currently holding her wrist. The other customers were shouting at the guy, but he didn't budge. 

  
Great.

  
Annie got up and kneed him in the chest. The girl quickly wretched her hand free as the guy slammed his face down at the table, calling her a bitch. 

  
This reminded her of Carly. She wondered how she was doing. Last time, the girl had sent her a letter about how she was doing fine, making a living off of her drugs to help people this time. 

  
The girl touched her shoulder and gave a thanks to her, her golden eyes practically glittering. 

* * *

  
He gave a look. 

  
The plan was in motion 

* * *

  
"Do you want to take a walk with me?" She asked as Annie escorts her out of the bar, "I know this place. Take it as a return for saving me."

  
_"Would you have a drink with me?"_

  
She seemed harmless enough. But Annie still thought that something was very wrong with this. 

* * *

  
Ymir recounted Armin's plan if Annie did transform. 

  
_"Commander Erwin, I have something."_

  
_"Go ahead."_

  
_"If Annie does transform but Eren is rendered unable, Ymir should come in. The Owl says that her Titan is agile. She could easily rip out Annie out of her nape and rip her limbs on her Titan form off."_

  
_". . . Good idea, Arlert."_

  
Ymir squatted downwards as she carefully masked the noises of the crowd with the footsteps, following Annie and the person she was currently with. 

* * *

  
"Your name, what is it?" 

  
"Lucianna. Yours?" Annie watches as she flicks a piece of hair over her ear. Her blue eyes narrowed. 

  
". . . Carly." 

  
"You paused a moment there, Carly," Lucianna says as she eyes her up. Annie felt uncomfortable, but Lucianna didn't seem to want 'that' from her. Instead she was just looking at what she was wearing. 

  
"Are you not comfortable with giving people your name?" 

  
"Not really," Annie looked at Lucianna, noting how her golden eyes seemed to have a halo around the rim. Why would someone's eyes have halo's? 

  
"That's alright," Lucianna replies as she flicks some of her hair back, "not everybody is comfortable with others. One reason or another."

* * *

  
Historia dug her heels into the roof as she landed. Alongside her was Kare, who was holding a flare gun. Behind Kare was Connie and Sasha, following hesitantly. Armin also had one, as several soldiers also.

  
Historia can't help but think that this serves them right for betraying them. 

  
As they landed on the ground, they came in contact with several Garrison soldiers. 

  
"Hey, isn't that. . ." Kare muttered as he looked at the Garrison soldiers lining up. When he looked closer, he could see a distinct blonde hair with a few dark streaks. The blonde hair was accompanied by a pair of green eyes. 

  
Oh, yes, it was. 

  
"Hey, hey! Stacy!" He shouted waving his hands. Sasha, Connie, and Historia looked at him strangely. When the girl turned towards him, he began to yell, "Why don't you take a damn shower! I swear I could smell you from inside headquarters, you sewer rat!" 

  
Stacy looked at him, offended. She dug her own feet to the ground and began to shout while waving clenched fists, "Oh, shut up, you boring, two dollar, running, dripping, stew bitch!" 

  
"Whatever, crock, run home to Aunt Bitch and tell her I said, 'Fuck you, fuck your money, and fuck her collection of nails'!" 

  
"YOU 70 YEAR-OLD DICKHEAD! I'LL COME OVER THERE AND FUCK UP YOUR LEG LIKE LAST TIME!"

  
Kare laughed as Sasha and Connie slowly backed away. Historia stayed in place, looking at the girl and Kare, "Non to ho visto così arrabbinato da quando abbiamo litigato per un gioco!"

  
"STAI ZITTO—"

  
"Eri solito urlae 'Mamma, Mamma'!" 

  
Silence was followed for a bit. A officer was berating Stacy while Historia was tugging Kare's sleeve and telling him we have other things to worry about. 

  
However, they girl kept on, "Cagna!" She took out a gun from her back — which wasn't loaded — and kept on going, "Dovrei sparati addeso!" 

  
"Hai sempre gridato 'Mamma, mamma, sono stata una cattiva ragazza' per sfuggire alla punizone!" 

  
After that, Stacy went back and calmed down, looking wth the rest of the terrified soldiers and said, "He's a good guy," in a affectionate tone, completely different then where she was yelling at Kare.

  
Likewise, Kare laughed as they jumped onto the rooftops again, "She's a sweet gal." 

* * *

  
Lucianna is a strange girl, Annie decides. 

  
She's certainly beautiful, but Annie only now notices that the dress seemed better for fighting then to show off. The gloves covered the palms but left room for the fingers. It was made so that sweat wouldn't cause something to fall out of their hands. The fishnets also seemed to hide something, and they hid it well. The boots seemed to be similar to combat.

  
Annie narrowed her eyes as Lucianna turns towards her and asks, "Your tense, Carly, what's wrong?" 

  
"Nothing, I just feel uneasy." 

  
Lucianna laughs, "Your in Sothess! Nothing bad is going to happen here!" 

  
If only Annie could believe that. 

* * *

  
Erwin let himself walk beside Nile, some of the Military Police soldiers beside both of them. 

  
"Erwin, if the flares go off—"

  
"Then we evacuate the whole area immediately," 

  
Nile exhaled sharply, flinching as Levi came up from beside him, "Annie and Lucianna are nearing the area." 

  
"Good, make sure that Summers has the supplies ready—"

  
"Hold on a moment!" Nile protests, "You can't be sure that this 'Owl' is telling the truth!" 

  
"You really are thick-headed as you look, Dok," Levi growls as he moves his cloak. Nile steps back as the swords are brandished. "The shifter has already confirmed everything to be true. We even saw it for ourselves when our soldiers were capturing the Armoured and Colossal. They tried to harm themselves by biting their tongues, and it's clear it wasn't a reflex. One of your soldiers is a traitor, and so are two of ours. Not to mention your soldier called for a day off on a work day, the same day we were going on a expedition. None of that can be a coincidence."

  
"Captain Levi—" 

  
Levi shot off before he could finish his sentence, towards where Hanji was. Nile gripped his gun tightly, looking at the calm Erwin. 

* * *

  
Annie and Lucianna cross a bridge to somewhere, and Annie can't help but notice that whenever Lucianna led her somewhere, the amount of people seemed to decrease with every block. 

  
She only got even more suspicious. 

  
"The ring on your finger," Lucianna suddenly says as she looks at the water below, "Who gave it to you?"

  
". . . My father." 

  
"And what was your father like?" 

  
_"Annie, promise me. . . promise me that you'll return!"_

  
"He raised me and helped me, that's all you need to know." 

  
Lucianna laughs as she presses a finger near her eye, "I know, after all, it's not my business to pry into another's." 

* * *

  
Clank, clank. 

  
Hanji fastened the restraints to the ground with Nifa. They wiped the sweat from their brow. They quickly turned their head up and shouted to their squad, 

  
"We need to make sure that we got every route covered!" 

* * *

  
"What's your reason for joining the Military Police?"

  
"I want to selfishly live comfortably inside the walls." Annie replies bluntly. 

  
Lucianna keeps on leading her, "Really? You don't seem selfish." 

  
"I am. I'm more of a weak girl, however." 

  
"Figurative, mentally, or literal?" 

  
Mentally. Mentally is the right answer. Annie doesn't have anything against the Eldians, and yet she followed her orders. She's a weak girl. A weak girl that only wants to go back home. Annie feels Lucianna put a hand on her shoulder, and she shrugs it off quickly. She didn't know why, but she needed the hand off. 

  
"Figurative." 

  
"Y'know, your a strange girl, Carly," she says as she starts to walk backwards, "even stranger then I am." 

  
"You don't know how strange I am, Lucianna." 

* * *

  
The soldiers disguised followed behind them closely, not letting Annie see them or hear their footsteps. 

  
They needed to be ready. 

* * *

  
Annie froze in place. 

  
She looked at her surroundings carefully. According to the reports, this was one of the most active areas. This is also one of the entrances to the underground. 

  
Yet it was deserted. 

* * *

  
The soldiers squeezed behind crates, behind alleys. They squeezed behind anything that could hide them well. They were near the place,mane they would come in if Eren shouted for them to.

  
It was almost done. 

* * *

  
"Lucianna. . ." 

  
"Hm?" 

  
Annie watched as Lucianna turned to face her, "I can't help but notice. . . that this place is completely deserted," 

  
Annie sees it now, how Lucianna's body freezes, how her carefree posture completely changes. Although she doesn't see it, a membrane goes over Lucianna's eyes for a moment as she looks at her from her peripheral vision. 

  
"You lead me here intentionally, didn't you?" 

  
"Well, guess it can't be helped," Lucianna's voice is completely different now. It's deeper, more predator like, "You really are smart, aren't you, Annie?" It doesn't take Annie long enough to realize that this is Eren she's talking to. 

  
Eren takes out the contacts from his eyes — a finger pressed near his eye from before — ands puts them in a case before he throws it down the stairwell to the underground. 

  
"Those contacts were really irritating me," he turns around to see Annie in her usual fighting position. He holds a hand up, "Now, now, I don't want to fight you. I want to talk."

  
"Where are Bertolt and Reiner?" 

  
"Don't worry, they're safe," Annie can't help but notice how he emphasis 'safe'. Were they really safe, or was he lying to her? She looked at his ears. They weren't red. Her stance relaxed a bit, but only a bit. She still needed to be on guard. With one touch, he could completely erase her memory like he was trying to do before. 

  
"You can stop this," Eren walked towards Annie slowly, "You don't have to work for them, anymore. You can help us, Annie. You can have a new life here. You don't need to follow their orders anymore." 

  
"And if I say no? What? Are you going force me?" 

  
"No, I hate taking away people's Freedom." He recoils at it, "I'm not going to force you, nor am I going to force Reiner and Bertolt. But I'll have to if you don't agree." 

  
And Annie says bluntly, "No," 

  
Eren turned around, his back to her. Immediately, Annie got up into a fighting stance. "Well, I tried," Eren turns around and looks at her, his green eyes filled with sadness. "I tried." 

  
"I really did." 

  
Annie suddenly finds herself across the road, a burning sensation radiating from her cheek. She looks up at sees Eren had kicked her. He moves his leg down, the dress fluidly following his movements. She was right, the dress was made for combat, and the fishnets hid his muscles. 

  
He digs his feet to the ground, and charges. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation for the Italian:  
> Kare: I haven't seen you this angry since we argued over a game!  
> Stacy: Shut up!  
> Kare: You used to scream 'Mamma, mamma'  
> Stacy: Bitch! I should shoot you right now!  
> Kare: You kept on screaming, 'Mamma, mamma, I've been a bad girl' to escape punishment! 
> 
> The reason for this scene was be ause I wanted some humour after going a few chapters without it. It has no relevance. You can just ignore it.


	26. The One With The Female Titan and Changes

Annie quickly got up and avoided Eren's attack by dodging to the side. She rolled for a bit before managing to get ahold of herself and drag herself into a crouching position. As she did, she could barely hear what Eren had to say, but she knew it wasn't directed at her. After that, she heard a few footsteps, but then everything was gone. It was only her and him, now. 

  
She looked up again to see Eren running at her, with two knives this time. She dodged the first swipe, but she couldn't dodge the one that came across her cheek. She didn't need to heal it, it was a minor injury, after all. She got up and attempted to throw him onto the ground by wrapping her arms around his neck. He managed to dodge before kicking her in the stomach. 

  
Annie began to think rationally, 'I can't let him touch me for more then one second. If I do, then I'm done for—' she looked to the side and shoved herself through the window, the glass shattering to the floor. The place was a bar, what's with her and bars lately? She went behind a counter and hid. 

  
She looked at the ring in her finger and swiped her hand across the blade. She could feel the Titan attempting to come into fruition, but ultimately it didn't happen just like last time. 

  
She looked up and saw a liquid- flammable alcohol if her memory serves her right. The door was shoved open and a knife was thrown in her direction. Annie got up and grabbed the knife that was embedded near her head and threw it at Eren, who caught it and muttered, "I'm getting rusty," 

  
Annie dodged a lunge, only to be tackled down once again. Acting quickly, she grabbed a chair and broke the leg off before hitting Eren on the head with it. The other rolled off of her in pain, which she took advantage of. She pressed it against his neck once his back was exposed, but he lifted his legs up and somersaulted a kick. She managed to block the brunt of the attack with the same chair leg. She kicked him off before discarding the broken leg. 

  
"Fast one, aren't you?" 

  
Annie ignored that and grabbed the liquid as well as another thing before running out of the place. Eren quickly attempted to follow her but she threw the other thing she had grabbed — which was a bottle — and he stepped back a bit, stunned as it hit his head. 

  
Annie forced her slit hand to heal before lighting up the liquid with it. The liquid began to spark as it readied to explode. She threw the liquid at the place Eren was in and he looked up just in time for it to come undone. 

  
Annie looked at the flames licking wherever they could, the embers dancing across the air like snowflakes. 

  
She did the most unexpected thing ever. 

  
She began to laugh. 

  
The began to laugh because she had just killed someone she cared about. Laughing because she did it in the most brutal way. Laughing because she felt her mental state finally began to deteriorate. 

  
She just laughed!

  
But it stopped immediately when a figure came through the flames. The dress was somehow unharmed, as well as everything else. 

  
Eren looked at her, that predatory gaze growing more in his eyes. For the first time, Annie felt genuine fear. 

  
"I got to admit, you almost got me," his voice is completely different, holding burdens upon burdens on it. It's also gruff, and slightly feminine, "Thanks for the idea, by the way." He holds up several more Molotov cocktails and that's when Annie thinks to book it, "It's been a long time that I've done this."

  
He began to throw them in her direction, her almost dodging every single one. He looks like he's new to this, and yet he's throwing them with deadly precision! What the fuck!? 

  
She needed to run. She scored higher then him, and yet he's got her on her toes, on high alert. Once again, she attempts to transform, only to get nothing. She looks to her side and sees a plank, which she grabs just in time to block Eren's attack with both of his knives. 

  
And he says in a voice, like he's scolding a unruly child, "Are you planning on running? Are you planning on shutting yourself away in a Crystal?" He takes one knife out and attempts to attack her at her side, which she blocks by breaking the plank in half. 

  
"If you are, don't. There are so many soldiers out there, waiting to capture you," he unhooked his other knife and she manages to dodge his simultaneous kick and punch, "I can also just easily break your crystal, just like with the Titan's inside the walls, Annie." 

  
He kicks one plank out of her hand, "I've got you cornered, darling," 

  
Annie believes that. Eren does have her cornered. Did he plan her every move? That was impossible. He needed to see the future if that was the case. 

  
"Don't get cocky—" 

  
"Cocky? Annie," she blocks a kick from him, "I'm telling the truth." 

  
She doesn't have time to look at his ears, as she uses the bladed ring to swipe his hand open as he comes to grab her throat. He stood still for a moment before healing it. Then he takes the healing hand and shoved it towards her throat. 

  
And it burns. 

  
Annie screams as he manages to pin her down using his other hand. It hurt, it burned, she needed it off! Yet when she tried to heal, she couldn't. She could only croak out something as Eren prepared himself to erase her memory. 

  
Then he stops. He fucking stops. 

  
Then he looks at her with a expression of pity. Pity, of all goddamn things. Of all the things he feels for her now, it's pity—

  
He sees it now. 

  
She only wants to go home, back to her father. 

  
"No matter if the whole world is against you, your father will always be by your side!" 

  
He stops and looks at her in understanding. 'Three kids sent to this Island. . . without knowing a thing.' 

  
He's suddenly flung upwards and back onto the pavement, where he sees Annie swiping her finger against that bladed ring of hers. 

  
He feels it. He feels Ymir give into the pain. The pain she inflicted on herself. He doesn't know how much she had hurt herself, only that she had done it too many times. He hates it, he hates not being able to find a substitute for it. Despite his reassurances, she still gives into the pain. 'Ymir, it's okay, it's okay—' but she doesn't can't listen, the fucker's orders take over her body.

  
And then a lightning bolt strikes the area. 

  
He feels himself propelled across, his back hitting a building, his head hitting the bricks. He doesn't break it this time, but it still hurt like hell. But his head— he thinks he got a concussion—

  
And Annie is gone. 

* * *

  
The soldiers quickly went down and began to shout at the civilians, telling them to move out and evacuate underground until this whole thing was over. 

  
All of them quickly followed the order and ran down to any entrance of the underground they could see. As they did, they could hear another lightning strike the area. 

* * *

  
Nile points the gun at Erwin, Levi falling behind the Commander. It's hidden well, but Levi has a hand on his sword, still sheathed in his scabbard. 

  
"I'll shoot you right now if you go through with this!" 

  
"Then you'll have to assume command," Erwin says nonchalantly, "Summers is in charge of supplies, Zoë is in charge of restraints—" 

  
"H–hold on—!" 

  
"Berner is in charge of evacuation—" 

  
"You win!" 

* * *

  
Annie runs. She just needs to run. Reiner and Bertolt were 'safe' by Eren's words, which probably meant confinement. She had no one to trust but herself. 

  
She either surrendered, or run back to Marely to see her father one last time. 

  
She's suddenly falling down, on the ground. There's a net on her, and so are several cables. She looks to see that same person walking towards her, a sword in hand. 

  
They crouch down to her level, and put a sword at her eye. 

  
"We aren't going to hurt you, but we will if you make us." They say, their goggled eyes menacing and practically suffocating her. She needs out— she needs out— 

  
SHE NEEDS TO GET FUCKING OUT! 

  
She swipes a leg and kicks away the barrels, hearing the cussing of the scouts as she runs. 

  
She just runs. 

  
A few soldiers come in, two of them flipping each other as they attempt to cut her up. But she grabs the wires and flings one of them before placing her hand on the other one and pressing down, watching as the soldier is slammed into a roof. 

  
She keeps on running. 

* * *

  
Kare looks at the running Female and thinks, 'Guess the flares weren't fucking needed then, huh?' He throws the flare gun away and shot himself towards her, blades readied. She tried to swipe him out of the air, but he quickly ducked down. 

* * *

  
Ymir feels someone named after her bite her hand. Her small hands move, and yet it wasn't forced. She lets it flow. 

* * *

  
Another lightning strike, and then a 7 meter comes across. Once again, Kare moves away and watches as Ymir bites through Annie's skin. He hears Annie shout in pain as he roughly lands on a rooftop. 

  
Despite it all, she still used to be their friend, she still was a fellow cadet. Kare hated doing this to her, hated hurting her. Yet he knew it had to be done. 

  
Ymir dances around Annie's Titan, ripping at her muscles as fast as she can. Annie quickly grabbed her by the hair and held her up, but she's hit with a smoke of a flare. Several smokes of flare, actually. 

  
She doesn't see it, but Historia, Armin, and Kare shot it towards her at the same time. Mikasa then comes in and slices the hand up, allowing Ymir to break free. She once again goes about ripping Annie's muscles apart, but Annie flings her off. With a quick wave of a hand, so does everyone else. 

  
But Armin manages to regain his footing. He shouts, "Annie! If you don't kill me, you can't keep up that bullshit excuse that your a weak girl!" 

  
She looks at him. There's a look of hesitation in her face, and that's all Mikasa needs to try and slice her exposed nape open. But Annie manages to run away, to the walls. 

* * *

  
'Ymir. . . is it okay if I. . . '

  
He hears a confirmation. 

  
He looks up, seeing how far Annie is. But he can't get to her, and he sure is hell isn't going to step over a bunch of houses and apartments to get to her. 

  
He runs towards where he knows Commander Erwin is stationed. As he does, he sees Jean and Marco hold their hands out to him in a attempt to stop him. He hears Jean mutter, "A girl?" 

  
He is unfettered, as he pushes them away with a, "Move, jackass!" 

  
He runs up to Erwin who is talking to Nile, and is immediately given gear once he points to his waist. He fastened the buckles on and is stopped by Nile. 

  
"Hold on, miss—" 

  
Eren wrenches his hand out of Nile's grip and flies away.

* * *

  
And that's when the smell of steam comes from the area. 

  
Then Eren comes in, running after her as Ymir joins him. 

  
Annie turns around just in time to receive a punch from him. She falls back into a fountain, the water sloshing around her. She gets up in time just to fall back down as Ymir rips the back of her knee as well as her Achilles. 

  
"I've got you cornered, darling," 

  
She's believing that now. 

  
Eren picks her body up, keeping her hands away from her nape as Ymir crawls over, ready to bite her out of her nape. 

  
But she gets up immediately, and Ymir claws out her eyes while she still screams. Mikasa goes in for the blow, only for a hand to reach our, ready to crush her. 

  
She's pushed back by Captain Levi, who grimaces as he does. He slices open her nape and Kare swoops in and begins to choke her while dragging her out, that same grimace on his face the whole time. 

  
Annie begins to paw in his direction, her face slowly going pale from the lack of oxygen. She isn't thinking straight as Kare slowly chokes her into unconsciousness. Finally, her hands go limp as Eren and Ymir get out of their forms. 

  
Eren lands down as Ymir spits out something, saying something about how Titan flesh is disgusting. 

  
He looks at Annie, and he reaches a hand out.

* * *

If her memories served right, then she cared for her father alot. Then she and he had something in common, yet different, their fathers. Hers was abusive, yet he realized his wrongs and apologized to her. His father was still technically alive, his body gone but his soul intact. He didn't really know anything about his, but she knew everything about hers. Mysterious men, yet caring. 

  
He heard a wisp and saw a man. A man wearing a long robe with a hood, with stringed clothes. Black pants and shoes, as well. With shoulder-length hair, his eyes hidden. 

  
Yet Eren knew he was looking straight at him. 

  
The man walked away, his footsteps ghosting. 

  
Eren looked back at the wall. He swears that a part of it should be covered up using a quill of sorts, yet there was no such thing. No cavity. 

  
He thinks that he should see them break. 

  
Let them break, the stones falling off the walls, the millions upon millions of Titan's that have _slept beginning to walk, them trampling, flattening the Earth with each step they take—_

  
_Dead people of the outside, squashed to death, blood everywhere, so much goddamn smoke—_

  
He feels a hand at his shoulder. It's Ymir, who is looking like he just killed a bunch of people and laughed about it. 

  
"You okay?" 

  
"Y— yeah. . ."

  
"Well, that's good," she says, "we wouldn't want you to feel so strange!" Despite that, there was a undertone of concern. Ymir always cared, she just showed it in her own way. 

  
"You need to go and uh. . . y'know," 

  
Eren nods as he turns to her and walks, his mind leaving away from the rumbled walls. The eyes of the man from before watching him with every step he takes. 

  
Eren steps onto the carriage that had been laid out for him, and it rides away. From the walls. 

* * *

  
Hanji walked beside Eren, their faces completely devoid of emotion. The hallways are long and narrow, which is kind of scary. 

  
Hanji interrupts the tense silence by a forced vocalization of, "What did you sign? Eld wrote some things down but I only translated that you were talking about the Legion. What were you signing before it?" 

  
"I was signing that it was surprising that no one saw Sir Ginn, Armin signed that we should just talk like this until he leaves, and Mikasa signed 'wow'." 

  
"Oh." Despite the situation, Hanji almost laughs, a genuine one. 

  
They are soon at the door, the steel door wear Three of the Nine are contained. Eren hates it. They are still human beings, and yet they had to be contained. Fucking Marley. 

  
_Eren, calm down._ He hears Uri say in that usual, soothing voice of his. 

  
'Kind of hard when you learn that a two certain dicks caused this to happen cause one was a cowardly pacifist and one was a greedy bastard.'

  
_. . . Okay I'm not gonna defend that._

  
Moblit opens the door from the inside, a syringe in hand. The syringe is empty, with only the remains weeping from the sharp tip. Eren looks to Annie, Reiner, and Bertolt, where small steam is emitting from where the syringe had been inserted. 

  
All of them are in the same position: Tied up, their mouths gagged so that they couldn't self harm, their fingers held up by several strings so that they couldn't stab their hands with their nails. The strings are fastened so that it's not loose,minutes also to not cause any wounds from it digging in. 

  
"We've just game them nutrition," Moblit says, the syringe being proof of that. The three look up, hatred on their faces— Eren hates those looks. He's no better then those two kings. 

  
He knows it. 

  
Eren waves a hand, and the two leave. Eren turns on the lights and looks at the three, his face growing more and more empty the longer he looks. He walks in front of Reiner and kneels down, revealing a knife in hand before he places it onto Reiner's nape. 

  
Bertolt and Annie react, moving themselves as if to defend the other blond. But their chairs are restricted to the ground, so they watch as Eren looks at Reiner. Reiner's eyes are full of hate, while Eren's are full of understanding. Eren slowly takes away the knife from Reiner's nape. 

  
"You were brainwashed, huh?" All of their eyes lit up, "Raised in a place like that, taught that your own kind are monsters. . . "

  
"I would've snapped. You are stronger then me," Eren walks to Bertolt and gently tilts the other's head up, "None of us are in the wrong, yes? The nervous and the quiet ones usually understand the best," 

  
Bertolt actually nods in understanding, there is no animosity in his eyes unlike before. For a moment, Eren sees the silent — the silent little demons and their silent little ways — yet kind boy from before. 

  
They were just kids. They didn't know anything. Like the Eldians in the wall. 

  
"Help us," he says as he walks towards Annie, "Help us survive them, in return, we'll prevent you them from ever reaching you three. I know that there is a way for the curse to be lifted," he drops to his knees in front of Annie, "You want to see your father again. I can do that, but you need to help us."

  
Annie listened carefully to Eren before something like a laugh comes through the gag. She looks at him and nods. She has agreed. 

  
Eren turned to Bertolt and Reiner, who shook their heads. Eren closed his eyes and sighed. He opened them, remorse filling them. 

  
"That wasn't a request," the two began to thrash around as Annie averted her eyes. Eren walked towards the two, seeing them thrash around even harder, "I'm sorry. But we have to do this. We just want to live like you guys."

  
Eren placed his forehead against Reiner's, and he held it there. 

  
He erased the memories of Marley, replaced by them living in the walls. He erased his father, he erased the fact that he knew that Eren was the Coordinate. He erased the fact that he had the Armoured Titan. 

  
Once he was done, Eren turns to Bertolt. 

  
The man from before watches his every move. 

* * *

  
Her decision may not have been the best, but it still was a decision. She would keep her word, no betrayals. Even if she did try, she would be taken down. 

  
She had no choice. 

* * *

  
"We execute them! Those three are too dangerous to be kept alive!" 

  
"If we do kill them, then we will be short on shifters. We need them, Nile," 

  
"They'll betray us!"

  
"The Rogue will help us." 

  
"Erwin!"

  
"Nile." 

  
The two Commanders stare at each other, Erwins gaze intense, Niles glare wavering. Finally, Nile relents. 

  
"If you're done," Levi says as he closes the door behind him, a black jacket hanging over his shoulders, "Keeping an eye on the Female, Armoured, and Colossal will be a shitty task with all of the people around here. Hanji suggested that I assemble a new team, made up of the Top 10 from the 104th. The Female is the only shifter that has agreed to cooperate."

  
"I see," Erwin folds his hands as everyone else leaves the room, "It's a good idea. But where are you all going to be?" 

  
"Nifa says that there's a abandoned house in the outskirts. We need rations and clothes if that's the case." 

  
"Far away from civilization, huh?" 

  
"Yes." 

  
Erwin exhales, "Let it be that Annie is the only one there. Bertolt and Reiner should be looked after Hanji." 

  
"Alright, eyebrows."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I do the clash of Titan's arc? I already have the uprising arc planned, but not that one.


	27. The One With Rod Reiss and Founder Ymir Gets a New Friend

Walking around, Historia can't feel like she's being stalked. In the crowds of the many people, she does her best to stick to Connie or Ymir as they buy rations. Ymir assures her that she's going to be fine, but she doesn't feel that way. 

  
And she's definitely regretting it when she accidentally walks into an alley.

  
As she does, a woman looks at her. Shes blonde, and looks like Annie, only with lipstick. Almost everything is hidden by a cloak. 

  
"Is it true, young lady, that someone is able to control Titans?" She asks her, her voice deep as if to keep anyone from recognizing it. 

  
Historia narrows her eyes, "Why should I tell you that? I'm just a girl." 

  
"Yes, but it is said that you fought the traitor. Your a soldier, right?" The lady looks at her, waiting for a answer. 

  
Historia turns away and begins to walk out of the alley, wondering where she will find Ymir and Connie. 

  
The lady turns her around and lifts her cloak to reveal two guns, and several bullets fastened tightly to her thighs.

  
Historia freezes. 

  
"Got your attention, huh? Your going to answer my question." 

  
Historia begins to think. Should she lie? Should she create a lie? A half-truth? That someone can control Titans but not Eren? Someone else? 

  
There's a short, obese man behind the lady. He's wearing all black, with a tophat. His moustache doesn't go any further then his nose, with his eyes as blue as hers. 

  
Historia thinks that he looks familiar. 

  
But she needs to get out of here. Small she may be, but she's still a soldier. 

  
If she's going down, then she is going down fighting. 

  
"Hey," Historia feels relief fill her as she hears Ymirs voice, "What's going on here? You trying to hurt her?" Ymir wraps an arm around Historia protectively, glaring at the man and woman. 

  
As she does, the sounds of guns and military issue boots are heard, with Connie's voice saying that he needs to find a friend. 

  
The woman growls before going away, the man following her. 

* * *

  
"The woman. . . she looked like Annie. Only she was older and had lipstick." Historia says once she explains the situation. Annie perks up and looks perplexed at it, carefully monitored by Kare the whole time. 

  
Sapphire is preening at Historia's hair, trying to comfort her. 

  
"And there was also a man. . ." 

  
"What did he look like?" Eren is interrogative, even more so then usual. 

  
"Well. . . he was small, stout, obese, wore black clothes, and looked like Frieda—" Historia is interrupted as Eren punches a wall, the concrete dropping to the ground in small tinks. A membrane folds over his eyes. 

  
"Verdametter huresohn!" He snarls out, the insult dripping with venom and said with putrid slime. But it isn't towards Historia or anyone else in the room. His bleeding hand began to heal as he removed his fist from it, Sapphire flying towards him and nuzzling his hand in concern as he does. 

  
"Historia, if you ever see that man again," he leans in, "Do. Not. Interact. With. Him." 

  
"Eren—"

  
"He is dangerous, okay! I saw him in my memories!" His voice in guttural, with his ears having no shades of red, "If you go out, then go out with someone else." He backs away suddenly, holding his head in pain. 

  
"Eren, hey," Mikasa says as she forces him to sit back onto a chair, "You're fine." 

  
"You know," Historia presses, "You know who he is." 

  
"He's. . ." Eren sighs, looking like he is complementing something. Kare turns his attention away from Annie and they all watch as Eren flex his fingers before he finally says, "That's your dad, Hisu." 

  
"My. . . dad?" 

  
"Yes, but do not interact with him!" He grabs her shoulders — Frieda, Frieda is there, grabbing Eren by the shoulders — "If you see him, run. Just run, okay? He'll just use you!" 

  
"What are yer talking about?" Sasha interrupts, her accent slipping through, "What do yer mean he'll use her?" 

  
"The Founding Titan originally only worked for those of royal blood, but the Owl says that those of the royal lineage wouldn't be able to use it because of a will," Armin recounts, "Eren can use it just fine, but if it were to come in hands to someone of royal blood. . ."

  
"They wouldn't be able to use it," Ymir finishes, "But what if they have the Attack Titan?" 

  
Kare raised his hands as Annie looked at the commotion, "Lets not talk about this right now, okay? We still have a few more days until we have to go to the outskirts." 

  
"Kare—" Connie attempts to get the conversation going once again, but he is stopped by a glare of his, the ember eyes of Kare glinting like fire. Connie immediately relents as he puts his hands up. 

  
"Good," Kare says, turning his attention back towards Annie, who hasn't moved an inch nor has talked that much since she had agreed to work with them. 

  
Honestly, it's kind of concerning. 

* * *

  
"What?" A rough voice says, thick with accent, "You wanna kidnap your daughter? Seriously? Stooping that low?" 

  
"As always, Kenny, your like a dog that followed my whimsical broth—" Rod is interrupted as Kenny lifts him off the ground and places that curved knife near his teeth. 

  
"Didn't I say that you shouldn't insult Uri like that!?" 

  
"Captain, stop," Traute says tiredly, moving her hands against the empty barrel of the Anti–Personnel gun. "Reiss is just going to keep on going until he gets back the Founder." 

  
Kenny let out a 'Tch' before dropping Rod, the true king hitting the ground roughly. He turns back and says, "Which one of 'em cadets said that they acted strangely?" 

  
'Like Uri' goes unsaid. 

  
"Annie Leonhardt was moved to the Scouting Legion after the battle at Sothess, and Eren Jaeger was reported to have broken his back against a tree, yet came out just fine," Traute answers without missing a beat, "Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover had been moved to Hanji Zoë's squad after the battle as well." 

  
"That ain't gotta be a coincidence," Kenny growls out as he sits back down onto the table, lifting his legs and putting them onto the wooden surface. 

  
"Precisely," Traute puts down the empty gun, "We either kidnap Leonhardt or Jaeger."

  
"Well, why not see if either of them has the Founder? Attack 'em?" At this point, Rod was just listening. 

  
"Captain, are you serious?" 

  
"Dead serious. No maiming, no injury, just to see if either of them can get us to leave."

* * *

  
Ymir wakes up to said, a bright tree with infinite branches, and a child. 

  
A child and Eren, who are looking at her. They seemed to be in the middle of something, something that involved a castle. 

  
"Hey, Ymir," She is about to reply but holds her tongue when she realizes that Eren isn't talking to her, "How the heck did she get in here?" 

  
"I don't know," the other Ymir says in a high voice — OF COURSE IT'S A HIGH VOICE! SHE'S A KID! — "I'll ask her." 

  
The kid helps her up, and Ymir sees that there seems to be something like very faint blood on her clothes, mostly near her nape or on that strange headband of hers. 

  
"My name is Ymir, you have the same name as me," she says as she sits down, Eren plopping to the ground beside her. 

  
"Yeah, I heard," Freckled Ymir drawls out, looking around. She entranced by everything's the starry night above her head, the infinite tree only a few metres away, the said beneath her feet. It looks familiar. 

  
Then she realizes it. 

  
This is the first thing she had seen when she escaped that hellhole. 

  
"Looks familiar, right?" Eren speaks up as he runs his hand through the said sand, "Was this the first thing you saw when you managed to come back?" 

  
Her, laughing in joy as she falls against the sand, her arms held out to the sky. 

  
"Yes, actually," The adult Ymir lets out a laugh, "Who is this kid, anyway Bright Eyes?"

  
"Like she said, she is Ymir. She is also the progenitor of all of the nine," 

  
If Freckled Ymir had liquid in her mouth, she would've spat it out. 

  
"W– wait WHAT!?" The child giggles a bit at her reaction, "This KID!? IS THE PROGENITOR!?" 

  
"Yeah, and she isn't too happy about that," The Founder deflates. Ymir looks at the girl before raising a hand and placing it onto her head before ruffling the girls hair softly. She perks up a bit in surprise before leaning into the touch. 

  
"Heh," she laughs, "You're cute, y'know?" 

  
"My first response to seeing her was to try and hug her, Freckles," Eren says as he lays on the sand. 

  
"Oh, and your also removed from the 13 year curse."

  
Silence. 

  
"I'M WHAT!?" 

  
Ymir pats the child before jumping up and down. She wasn't affected! She could live with Historia as long as she wanted! HAHA! TAKE THAT FATE, YOU FICKLE LITTLE WHORE! 

  
"Is she okay?" Child Ymir asked Eren. 

  
"Probably not." He replies. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> German translation: Bastard son of a bitch! 
> 
> Also, there are a lot more Kare and Eren moments in the next chapter.


	28. The Anti-Personnel Squad Are Kind Of Dicks (Featuring Drunk Kare Milesworth)

"Wait, you want me to drop the mix of the lavender in the borage and the passionflower!?" Kare shouts as he holds a eye dropper full of said lavender mashed into liquid, "That's overkill, Section Commander!" 

  
"This is just a little experiment," Hanji insists as they mix the borage and the passionflower together in one bowl, the remainders of the flowers in another bowl, "No harm done at all!" 

  
"ALL THREE OF THESE PLANTS ARE SEDATIVES! DO YOU WANT TO KILL THE PERSON WHEN WE INJECT THIS INTO THEM!?" Kare protested furiously, waving the eye dropper around. 

  
Hanji grabbed the eye dropper and yanked it out of Kare's hands before raising it above the bowl of the mixed plants and dropping most of it inside the bowl. 

  
"HANJI!" Kare hissed as he began to tussle his black tresses in anger, "ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" In his tantrum, Hanji began to happily mix the bowl of plants. 

  
"Drain it!" He hissed, "Drain it right now!" 

  
"Nope!" 

  
"Section Commander!" 

  
"Can't hear you~!" They sing songed as they pranced around with said bowl. Kare huffed a sigh before grabbing a glass of water and chugging it, fully understanding why Moblit drank so much wine. 

  
Hanji let out a gasp, "Wait, Kare, that's the one with—!"

  
Kare's head hit the table.

  
". . . Alcohol."

  
Hanji put the bowl down and dragged Kare off of the table before dropping him onto a chair, fixing his limbs carefully so that he wasn't uncomfortable. Kare sat there, taking everything. 

  
"Uh. . . stay here. I'm going to get. . ."

  
"Eren," 

  
Hanji whipped their head around, wondering if they heard them right. 

  
"Eren." He repeats more seriously. 

  
The Section Commander cleaned everything up, putting them in high places where a chair could not help Kare reach before dragging themselves out of the room and closing the door behind them. 

  
They then began to look around and ask people where Eren was. It wasn't until they came across Annie — accompanied by Armin — who told them that Eren was currently talking to some visitors from the Military Police in the mess hall. Former classmates, apparently. 

  
Hanji thanked both of them before running off into the mess hall to see that yes, Eren was talking to two of their former cadets. One looked like a horse. 

  
Hanji grabbed Eren and dragged him off, ignoring how they were followed by the other guy with freckles. 

  
Hanji opened the door to the lab and saw that Kare had not moved an inch. Eren looked back at him and Hanji until his neck seemed to get a crick. 

  
"He accidentally drank the drugged water." 

  
"Wh—" the guy from before came up from behind Hanji, "Why was there drugged water, Officer?" 

  
"Loopy times," Eren stated before kneeling downwards at Kare. The brunette held a hand out and produced the finger 'two' with his fingers, "How many fingers am I holding up?" 

  
Kare grabbed his hand. 

  
Hanji stifled a laugh as the other guy's jaw dropped. 

  
"H— hey!" Eren began to tug away, but Kare's grip was strong. In a moment of confusion and flush, he used the Founder, "I order you to let me go!" 

  
It had no effect. 

  
The guy coughed before moving forward, "Kare! It's me, Marco!" He chirped happily as he spread his arms out.

  
Kare got up and pushed Marco away with a snarl, "Go away," 

  
His behaviour wasn't usual the uptight, yet outgoing soldier he was. In fact, he was kind of. . . childish. In fact, he was like a rabbit, very territorial. 

  
Hanji began to realize the implications and began to try harder to shush their chortles. 

  
Marco moved back a bit as Kare walked towards him, his hand interlaced with a flushed Eren's the whole time. 

  
"Hey, did one glass of alcohol really make you like this?" Marco asked as he placed his hands on his hips. 

  
Kare shoved him again, this time with enough force to almost cause a crack in the wall, "Go away!" 

  
"Don't hit him!" Eren shouted as he tugged at Kare's jacket, "Lets just go, okay?" 

  
Kare looked at him, a unreadable expression in his eyes before he dragged Eren off to gods-knows-where. 

  
Hanji helped up Marco, laughing the entire time. 

* * *

  
"C'mon! Let go!" Eren insisted as he tugged on Kare's grip with their interlaced fingers. Inside his mind, he could hear the past users questioning him on why he was so oblivious. 

  
He was not oblivious! 

  
_Holy shit, kid._ Kruger laughed out, _I can't remember the last time I had a good laugh!_

  
_THREE YEARS, EREN! TWO DAMN YEARS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T NOTICED!_ Frieda cried out. 

  
'WHAT THREE YEARS!?' 

  
Eren blocks them out of his thoughts as he looks at Kare, who has been watching him this whole time. He took the initiative and went to the canteen, where he sat Kare down. Forcefully, he pried his fingers away, noting how Kare didn't want to let go. 

  
Going into the kitchen, he poured a water into a bowl and grabbed a rag before walking out and settling the items in front of him. He carefully inspected Kare's face — the chin, the angular jawline, how he had his hair tied back instead of slicked — before wetting the rag and gently dabbing his face with it.

  
Kare took it all. Insofar as Eren was aware of, he seemed kind of content having Eren do this to him. The Raven waited until Eren was done, where the brunette softly turned Kare's head left and right to see if he had missed any spots. 

  
Then he drawled out, "Water. . ." 

  
Eren was about to get up and serve him before Kare grabbed the bowl and shoved his head into it. Eren yelped as he grabbed Kare's hair — it was soft — and yanking his head upwards, "Don't drink that!"

  
Kare looked up, confused as water droplets ran down his face. To be honest, he looked kind of handsome. Even more so then usual.

  
_YOU FUCKING LIKE HIM, DON'T YOU KID!?_ Marianna cackled. 

  
_Go get him, son,_ Grisha says firmly. 

  
Eren feels his face once again flush up. Shaking his head, he took the basin and the rag away into the kitchen, where he poured the basin out and throwing the rag for cleaning into a bin. 

  
He poured a glass of water and put away the pitcher before walking out and presenting the cup to Kare. Kare made no move to grab the cup, so Eren brought up the other soldiers hand and wrapped his fingers around the cup. 

  
Kare's hand slowly moved back until the glass was above his head.

  
Eren took the cup with a panicked "Hey, hey, hey" and placing Kare's hand down onto the table. He took Kare's jaw in one hand and opened his mouth large enough for liquid to flow through. 

  
He gently placed the water to his lips and flooded Kare's mouth with the warm liquid, to which the Raven gulped down. Once he was done, Eren took away and quickly cleaned the cup and going back to Kare. 

  
For one, he couldn't help but notice that his actions were bolder. 

  
For two, he seemed to be stupidly honest. Yes, Kare was always honest but that was because he couldn't tell a lie. 

  
For three, he seemed more childish. 

  
If he went back to number two. . . 

  
"What do you think of Marco? Jean?"

  
Indifference. 

  
"Section Commander Hanji? Captain Levi? Commander Erwin Smith?" 

  
Kare answered in order, "Mentor, strong leader, incredible."

  
"Sasha? Connie? Historia? Ymir? Mikasa? Armin?"

  
"Friends."

  
"Annie?"

  
"Suspicious, untrustworthy."

  
Eren exhaled before pointing to himself, "Me?" 

  
"Mine," 

  
Eren jerked back at the answer. Did he hear that right? He pointed to himself one again.

  
" _Mine._ " Kare stated with more emphasis, saying the word slowly, looking at Eren as he does. As he does, he leans in towards Eren. 

* * *

  
Connie's jaw dropped behind the door to the mess hall. Sasha's jaw dropped, Armin's jaw dropped, Historia pressed her lips in a thin line, and Ymir slammed her head against the wall in order to avoid laughter by pain. 

  
Jean, too, was listening. 

  
And Christ was this a fucking revelation. 

* * *

  
Eren pushed Kare away before grabbing the others hand, his face heating up again. Can you blame him!? This guy who sometimes made him feel funny inside, said that he thought of Eren as his! ALSO WHY THE FUCK DID EREN FEEL SO TINGLY WHENEVER KARE COMPLIMENTED HIM!? 

  
_You oblivious fuck._

  
Eren internally screamed. 

  
Forcing himself to regain his composure, he opened the door to outside of the canteen and ran off, Kare in tow. 

  
The other soldiers somehow were able to hide from both of them. 

  
Eren walked down the hallway, Kare following him the whole time. Was he really drink!? His face wasn't flushed at all! 

  
Going back to his dorm, Eren sat Kare down on his bed and looked outside the window to see Sapphire cawing at a Rooster. Unbeknownst to him, Kare came up from behind him and opened the window before jumping out of it. 

  
"KARE!" Eren barked as the Raven landed on the grass. Sapphire stopped harassing the rooster, who in turn stopped trying to fight Sapphire. 

  
Kare then picked up the rooster and went back inside. 

  
Promptly, he plopped the rooster in Eren's arms. 

  
"Is it fat?" 

  
Eren looked at the rooster, complementing life. When he looked up, Kare had once again jumped out of the window and fetched a very confused Sapphire, who he once again plopped in Eren's arms. 

  
"Are they fat?"

  
Eren began to complement life once again. 

  
Kare then went out of the window. Eren's head yanked up as he dropped the rooster and Sapphire gently outside before running out, after the very much so drunk Kare. 

  
Sapphire followed him.

* * *

  
Ymir looked through Sapphires eyes, and could not help but think that Eren, despite his chess master tendencies that seemed to rival Erwins, was a damn idiot. 

* * *

  
Kare hadn't walked that far. In fact, he was just looking at the stables where the horses were. Currently, Ness was feeding the horses. The veteran turned and waved his hand at both of them, where Kare did nothing while Eren waved back. 

  
Sapphire landed on his shoulder and waved a wing. 

  
Ness gasped in wonderment. 

  
Eren grabbed Kare's hand and tugged him away, not wanting Kare to find any more roosters or any animal, really. 

  
As they walked back to the dorm area, Eren couldn't help but feel on edge. Like really on edge. Is this an affect of being a Attack Titan holder? Being a predator? He couldn't help but notice now. 

  
_Yes._

  
'Oh. Thanks.'

  
Just as he thanked Kruger, he felt a sudden whipping noise. A very familiar whipping noise. 

  
Like ODM Gear, but a bit more loose. For better maneuvering. 

  
With that in mind, he lifted a hand and blocked the knife that came his way. Eren gritted his teeth in pain as he felt the flesh and muscle be torn by the sharp knife. The steel of the knife tore through his clothing as he stumbled back from the surprise attack. 

  
Kare's eyes fastened onto him and widen at the sight of blood and steam as Eren pulled the knife out of his arm. It was only a matter of seconds that his arm was healed. Eren thanked Ymir for her kindness. 

  
As it was healing, Sapphire went off to get some help. 

  
Eren inspected the knife carefully. It looked like the ones he used for combat, just more curved and more sharp. It could be easily tossed by the blade as well. 

  
He heard more wires, and with a snarl, he flipped the knife and was ready to attack. 

  
However, the soldier was tackled mid air by Kare, who immediately knocked them out. It was a women, her hair brown. She was also clearly an adult. 

  
However, her gear was weird. Noting the empty knife holster was similar to the knife currently in his hand, Eren also noted that it wasn't the one used for Titan's, rather they seemed for human combat. The amount of bullets on her thighs seemed to be missing two of them. 

  
Eren tapped Kare on the shoulder, "Open the guns up. Make sure to not touch the trigger."

  
Kare did so. As Eren thought, two more bullets were inside. However, more wires were heard. Quickly acting, Eren snapped the gun off of the wires and turned it so that the butt of the gun hit the other in the head. 

  
The guy convulsed a bit on the sandy ground before stopping. Eren began to worry that he had killed him. 

  
When he checked the guys pulse in his wrists, it was still beating rather evenly. Sighing in relief, Eren began to strip the guy of his gear, Kare following his movements all the same. 

* * *

  
Annie kicked the table over, watching as one of them hit the wall as the table collided with the the ambusher. Armin threw a chair and knocked out the other guy with it. 

  
Armin cringed back at the impact while Annie walked towards the ambusher and made sure that he was out. She yanked off the gear and turned back to see that Armin had done the same. 

  
She looked at the broken window they had come through and wondered how the hell they weren't injured.

  
The room to the basement was shoved open as Mike came through. He took in the broken chair, the toppled table, the tied up ambushers, and the gear in Armin and Annies hands. 

  
It didn't take long to figure out what had happened. 

  
Mike went to the girl and lifted her up as Armin and Annie grabbed the other one, dragging them to Erwin. 

* * *

  
Ness grunted as he helped both of them carry the two tied-up adults. Sapphire was apparently and surprisingly, discombobulatingly strong enough to carry the gear, albeit with help with some other bird friends. 

  
First, Marco and Jean visit. 

  
Second, Kare accidentally gets drunk.

  
Third, they got ambushed by people. 

  
All in all, Eren is done with everything. 

  
All he wants to do is sleep. 

  
_Like in Kare's arms or?_

  
'Shut up, Marianna!' 

* * *

  
As ordered from Erwin, they had captured them instead of erasing their memories. 

  
Since Eren had erased and replaces Bertolt's and Reiner's memories, they helped them carry the two of the four bodies into the chamber that they were kept in when they were captured. 

  
The other two had been confined to the basement, to where Annie was temporarily staying at until they had to move out. She wasn't cold, she says. After all, shifers have more body heat because of Titan temperatures being unusually high.

  
But it didn't matter, not now. Not even the nickname Kare was christened with. (Rabbit. Fucking rabbit of all things). 

  
What did matter was getting information out of all of them. 

  
Like Hanji once said, "I'll be the one to swallow everything up".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In China, giving a hen to your gf is basically proposing. If she replied 'It's fat' that means she agreed to marry you. 
> 
> Now notice how Kare gave Eren a rooster. 
> 
> The reason why Eren didn't use the Founder is because there is a possibility that they wanted him to use it if they attacked him. So that's why he didn't use it.
> 
> Kare's thoughts the whole time: get away from the man I love.  
> Why is he holding my hand.  
> Why did he stop holding my hand.  
> Wow, his hair, it's pretty.  
> If I pretend I can't hold it, will he touch my hand again?  
> I can't believe that worked.  
> Do I need to get him a dowry? What kind of friends wouldn't accept a rooster.  
> Oh no. Is one not enough?  
> Eren got stabbed! I must find and kill the person who did.  
> Do you think I can't kill you while everything is spinning!?


	29. I Don't Know What to Call This Chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight torture warning

"What do you mean I shouldn't use the Founder?"

  
"Erwin says that you shouldn't. Because what if they break out of confinement?" Hanji reasons. Currently, they are studying and looking at several cutting tools Moblit had brought to them after he had gotten over his hangover, "We also don't know if they are Eldian or not."

  
Kare had a very large hangover after he had sobered up. When he asked Hanji what had happened last night, they only giggled. Kare had thought that he had done something retarded. 

  
Not that he and indirectly proposed to Eren using a rooster and Sapphire, and that he also thought that he thought of Eren as his.

  
"Seriously?" Ymir asks, "I ain't above most things, but torture?" 

  
"What brought that up?" Armin shakily asked. Annie reached a hand out in order to give him a comforting pat on the shoulder, but she withdrew her hand once near. Connie watched the whole exchange. 

  
"But 'ey shouldn't be able to escape!" Sasha protests as she flings her hair around wildly, "'Ey are tied up nice and good!" Her hands are shaking frantically, clenching and unclenching without rhythm. 

  
"I don't think we have a choice," Mikasa sits down on a chair, "the world is cruel, after all."

  
Historia watches silently. 

  
Kare places a hand onto his head. He knew what he was getting into, but this? God damn. He never thought that things would get so. . . somber this quickly. 

  
"Is there any place in the headquarters that is far enough to not listen to screams?" 

  
"I don't think that's possible," Mike says as he walks into the room, gear in his hands. "You may be a better liar detector then Eren. So we need you there," the soldier placed the gear into Armin's waiting arms, "They smell like rain. They also smell similar to perfume, or even cologne. Kind of like Lady Historia's smell."

  
"I'm pretty sure she asked you not to call her that, sir," Ymir says as she looks at the knife one of them had.

  
The man watches them. 

* * *

  
Armin slowly and carefully takes apart the gear, his gloved hands protecting them. Hanji uses a microscope for the large bullet to study its surface.

  
Armin takes the broken off gun and tugged at the cable still attached to it. The cable was extremely durable, not budging or ripping off easily. Eren, however, managed to rip it off.

  
His friend was strong. Armin did know that. But he didn't know that he was strong enough to rip off the wires. Armin did not know that. Then again, Kare can break a stone wall just by squeezing it hard enough.

  
"Section Commander, the cable is extremely strong. It seems to be more firmer then our usual wires." He informs as he opens the barrel of the gun, "It also seems that the guns can only hold up to only bullet at a time. Not to mention that the wires are also connected to the guns."

  
Hanji hums in thought, listening to Armin's report and looking at the contents of the bullet. They begin to continue where Armin left off, "These bullets are also quite large. It seems they could blow off someone's arm or leg in one hit unless their target is fast enough."

  
"A assassination squad, made to carry out the targets so that the kill himself won't get dirty," Armin theorizes, "They also have knives if needed. So they must be soldiers. Skilled ones to fly around while also gunning and using knives."

  
"Skilled soldiers. . ." Hanji mutters. They take the bullet and place it on a tray. They then take a sharp object and heat it up over the small incense burner and wait. They then place a finger on it and immediately withdraw their hand, blowing some air onto it. 

  
Armin shakes his head, "Don't do that! What if you trigger something!?" He did not want to deal with the bloody aftermath of it, not at all cause that would be digusting. 

  
They then began to cut open the bullet, starting from where the smelt or the line. They cut carefully and slowly, not wanting to trigger anything inside of the bullet. A few sparks come from it, and Armin quickly gets away while Hanji backs away slowly, arms up. 

  
Nothing happens. No explosions. It was just the Sparks from cutting. Hanji retakes their place and continues to slice the bullet open. Armin watches in anticipation. 

  
Hanji turns the bullet and keeps cutting, the Sparks happening every now and then. Finally, it's done. They take off the head of the bullet and place it onto the tray, where it lays, slightly melting because of the slicing. 

  
Inside the bullet is what seems to be a cylinder mini bomb. Things, despite being small, can be highly destructive. However, there was something strange about it, as there was no place to light it up so that the bomb could do its work. 

  
Maybe inside of it. 

  
Hanji grabs the blade from before and heats it up again, where they then cut open the bomb. 

  
It wasn't a bomb. Instead, what was inside was several bullets. Hanji grabs the ripped off gun and replaces the empty barrel with a bullet they had not cut, "Arlert, go and fire this off outside, please."

* * *

  
Armin aims and he fires the gun at a tree. He grits his teeth and growls at the amount of recoil that had been sent to his arm. "Shit, fuck! Goddamn it!" He flails his shooting arm around in order to ignore and ease up some of the pain. He then looks up at the tree he had just fired at.

  
And sees that the middle of the tree had exploded like a watermelon. 

  
Holy shit.

  
He goes back and tells Hanji, whose eyes narrow in thought.

* * *

  
Levi takes off the muzzle off of the woman's face, Kare grabbing it. With a defeated sigh, Levi wrapped the apron around himself and then put on some gloves. Kare backed away into a safe distance. 

  
"Listen. I really don't want to fucking do this. You have two options," Kare places earbuds into the other man's ear, who is beside the girl, and in the same position as her, "You tell us what you know, or I beat the shit out of you. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want to see you stain the fucking floor with your blood, and I sure as hell don't want to either."

  
"We are a squad for the King," she says. Kare listens to her. 'She's being honest,' he realizes with perplex filling his mind. She gave up without a fight, why did she give up? Or did she know when to fold them?

  
"What do you do, huh?" Levi steps towards her and Kare once again steps back, "We don't got all day for this shit."

  
"We carry out his orders." That's all she says.

  
But she is being honest. 

  
The next three say the same thing, only one adding additional words that about the gear. 

  
All of them are honest. 

* * *

  
"Apparently they are a personal squad of the shitty real King," Levi says as he throws away a apron, Kare behind him, "But they didn't say much more then that. They didn't say who they worked for, didn't say what they were called, the fancy ass gear they use, or anything else. Just that. Tch. Some fucking information we got."

  
Everyone looked at Eren.

  
". . . What?"

  
"Uri? Frieda? Their dad?" Connie explains, "Did they ever know about this? Well?"

  
"No," Eren replies, "Karl's want for 'peace' made him hate this. Either that or one of the family members went behind their backs and did their jobs for them because of the will."

  
"Great," Kare clenches the back of a chair tightly, squeezing it, "Once again, no information."

  
The part that Kare was holding of the back of the chair gave under his hand. 

  
Everyone looked at him. Kare raised his hand and showed some of the wooden pieces in his hands, the chips somehow not causing splinters, but cutting his hand with small scratches.

  
He could only say one thing.

  
"Oops."

  
Mikasa began to bandaged the slightly bleeding hand, some of it seeping through the white cloth. As she did, she talked to him about something, to which he replied in affirmative. 

  
Eren grabbed one of his knives and walked out. 

  
He would get more information. 

* * *

  
Eren can't hear Kruger's voice telling him to not do it. But they all know by now, don't they? The world is cruel. All of it is cruel. People want to kill them for sins that happened oh so long ago, grudges will be held, not matter how much time has passed. Hypocrisy has been endured, barely anyone learns from their mistakes anymore. 

  
The man knows that. 

  
The man watches as he walks towards one of the confinement rooms. The man watches as he opens the door to the room. The man watches as Eren flicks the knife in his hands.

  
The man watches as Eren asks a few questions. The Anti-Personnel Squad members don't answer. 

  
The man watches and hears the horrible squelching of blood, muscle, and skin breaking. The man watches and hears Eren questioning them, a wavering voice present. 

  
It had only been a few minutes that the solider had his knee bandaged, the pop of it put back in place by bloody hands. The man looks at Eren, who walks out of the room with bloody hands and a glistening knife. 

  
The man watches as Eren closes the door and breaks down.

* * *

Hands are bloody. Knife is bloody. He can't focus on anything else, only what he did. He had thought he would've been fine since Kruger had done this, yet he wasn't. The dripping red hands seemed to mock him, non-verbally telling him what a monster he was. 

  
He already knew that. 

  
Yet the blood seemed to laugh at him, scorn him, sneer at him. The iron smell clouded his mind. 

  
If he were more immature, more younger, he would've done this without any hint of repulse or remorse. He would've thought of them as beasts in human forms. But now? They are human, like him. He had hurt them.

  
And he hates himself for it. 

  
Eren shakily got up and dragged himself to the nearest bathroom. He washed his hands and the knife, watching as the red water went down the drain. Eren clenches his fists tightly, the action reminding him of one time of choking someone out, only to break their necks straight after with a single snap.

  
Memories were good. They taught you things, spoke to you. However, they also are not. Eren remembers Marco's hand on his shoulder, concerned. But he pushed the hand away. 

  
He ignores the memory before getting up, the faucet, the knife, his own hands reminding him of the deed he had just done. 

  
"I'm fine," Eren says as he comes back, the concerns of everyone else filling his ears. "I'm fine."

  
Mike leans in and smells him, "You smell like blood, kid."

  
"I'm fine," Eren repeats, "They are from the Military Police. They get the top ten of each Corps so that they are able to find the best ones to serve the true monarch. Everyone else in the MP's are lazy because they aren't dedicated at all."

  
"MP's are more shittily corrupt then I thought," Levi sits down and crosses his legs, "The brat stays. I want to ask him something." Everyone quickly leaves the room, leaving behind the Ackerman and the soldier.

  
"Do you hate me, Eren?" Levi asks, the tone in his usual monotone, yet with a hint of sorrow. "I wasn't able to get much out of them."

  
"I—" Eren shakes his head. Where did this come up? He hears the voice of Adam telling him that he knows why. Realization crosses Eren's face.

  
"I don't hate you, sir," Eren assures, "You did what you had to do. Besides, who would hate you?"

  
Levi looks at his questioningly.

  
"You really are kind, aren't you?"

* * *

  
Eren can't sleep. He hears the scream of the soldier in his ears, blood, skin, and muscles. He can't sleep. He hears the knife and the shine of it in the dark knife. He smells the iron, the sweat.

  
He can't sleep.

  
He goes to the canteen, still in his sleeping clothes. He had made sure to not disturb Mikasa and Armin.

  
He can't sleep.

  
Eren sits down at a table and rolls a discarded cup that had been left there. The rolling of the cup, though not as heavy and not as right as a bomb, reminds him about the molotovs. About how he had been throwing them at Annie.

  
Was he aiming to kill, or to capture?

  
"I never expected you to be a restless sleeper," Kare says as he leans against the doorway. Eren jerks around, the cup rolling to a stop, "For someone that acts like a predator, you let your guard down quite easily this time."

  
"I. . ."

  
"Am not fine?" Kare finishes, "I could smell that lie from a mile away." Eren flinches a bit. 

  
"You aren't okay, Eren," he goes away from his position from the doorway and walks towards Eren, "We are still teens, humans. It's not okay to bottle everything up."

  
The way he talks reminds him about Kare being drunk. Soft, yet commanding, demanding. 

  
"I hear the screams, the knife breaking their skin," Eren confesses without stop as Kare gets closer to him, "I can't sleep. I close my eyes and see the blood, I see their knees broken, popped off because of me."

  
"I can't sleep, Kare," Kare hugs him as Eren starts to breath heavily, "I can't sleep, Kare. I can't sleep, I can't sleep—"

  
Eren jerks a bit as he feels fingers on his nape. They press down and Eren shivers at the touch before falling limp. However, he can still use his voice, "What. . ." Kare presses his fingers against his nape for only a moment more before moving his hands and picking him up. Eren's legs dangle uselessly as Kare swoops him off.

  
He's carrying him bridal style.

  
Kare walks back to the dorms, Eren in his arms, snuggled tightly. Eren can't move even if he wanted to, Kare had paralyzed him for a bit. But there aren't any hostile intentions towards him. Eren trusts Kare. 

  
Kare opens the door to his, Mikasa's and Armin's room. Kare turns and lays down on Eren's bed, Eren ontop of him. The position is surprisingly comfortable, and Eren fists Kare's bed shirt tightly. 

  
"Wait, what. . ." Eren tries to say, but Kare once again pressed his fingers against his nape. Eren trembled lightly before going limp again. Strong arms fasten themselves around his body tightly, protectively. 

  
"Sleep like this for a bit."

  
Eren fists Kare's shirt once again and sleeps, meeting both Ymir's in the Paths. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pssst. . . hey.
> 
> Search up cloudymooncake on tumblr


	30. The One Where The Uprising Arc Finally Begins

Eren wakes up on Kare's chest and outright realizes that it actually happened last night. Kare's chest is falling and rising in a steady rhythm, and Eren can't help but notice how he had barely moved an inch from his place on the bed. He also can't help but notice that the arms are around him very tightly. 

  
He looked to the front of the room and sees Mikasa getting dressed. Armin is reading a book, still in his pajamas. 

  
"Are you finally up?" Mikasa asks as she tugged on her scarf, "Eren, you should know better then to sleep with people." She teased. Mikasa. Ackerman. His sister. Teased.

  
Oh my God, what the actual fuck.

  
Eren turns his face and presses it against Kare's shirt, ignoring the past shifters teasing him and saying how oblivious he was. He accidentally clutches the shirt hard enough to the point Kare stirs. Eren goes limp immediately as Kare opens his ember eyes, the pupils darting across the room.

  
Then he goes, "Heya."

  
Armin flips a page of his book as Mikasa throws most of their clothes in a bag, "Hey," Armin greeted, "How did you sleep?"

  
"Like a rock," Kare replies. Eren laughs awkwardly as he attempts to get up, his arms noodle-like due to them mostly on Kare's chest. However, his nape is pressed again, and he falls back down. 

  
"What's the rush?" 

  
"Kare, Armin and Mikasa are right here and we are going to the outskirts today," Eren reasons. He takes on a begging tone, "Let go, okay?"

  
"Cannot."

  
Armin stifled his laughter behind his hands. Mikasa managed to not trip last time.

  
"What is up with you!? You're a totally different person!" Eren grabs Kare by the collar and looks his straight in the eye once the shivers had stopped. "Let's just go get dressed."

  
"Cannot~" Kare reaches out and brushes a strand of hair behind Eren's ear. 

  
Eren proceeded to short circuit. 

  
He then grabbed Kare's shirt and screamed into it. Kare patted his hair as he did, looking very proud of himself. A second later, Kare let him go. 

  
Although he doesn't notice, Armin and Mikasa do. They see that Kare is distracting him from whatever happened last night, what caused them to sleep together in the literal sense. 

  
Eren bolted towards the drawer, took out a casual outfit — his tastes had changed from his usual one to Frieda's. Her outfits were snazzy — and dashed towards the bathroom, turned on the shower, took off his clothes, and jumped In.

  
He had also almost forgot to take off his clothes.

  
He planted his hand against the shower wall, the warm water flowing down his unkempt hair — ignoring Marianna's urges to comb it — and his body. 

  
"Eren. It's been two years for you, and three years for Kare. How did you not notice?" Ymir asked. Eren heard the small crunching of sand, so she was building something. 

  
"What?" He asked, knowing that none of them would listen. 

  
"You've been paying more attention a lot more to Kare after he had gotten drunk." She informs smoothly. The usual shyness in her voice is gone, replaced with new found confidence. Eren thinks that Freckled Ymir is a bad influence on her.

  
Freckles Ymir thinks otherwise.

  
"But you've been paying attention to him after a year of meeting him," she continues, "but not to this extent."

  
"What do you mean?" 

  
_Are you serious?_ Marianna says, the former terrorist questioning her sanity, _You hadn't notice how you blushed sometimes around him? How you stare at him when the tiniest skin of his chest was exposed?_

  
". . . No?"

  
 _ANYANHABSHBAMUAMHABAHANH—_ Marianna began to yell out gibberish or not. It was hard to tell what she was saying. YOU HAVE ONE FUCKING BRAIN CELL WHEN IT COMES TO LOVE.

  
"What do you mean!?"

* * *

  
"Is he talking to himself?" Armin asks. Kare leaned against the door to the bathroom, one ear pressed against the wood. He then turned and looked at Armin before saying, "Yes. He is talking to himself."

* * *

  
Marianna, my son just needs some time. Grisha calms Marianna down, and Eren hears the slight ruffle of hair. His father was petting Marianna's hair.

  
Eren hears the small wind in his mind. Yeah, yeah, she shrugs, you gotta get going, kid. I'll yell at you later.

  
"Eren, you still hadn't told me what fuck means." Ymir innocently intercepts. 

* * *

  
Marianna covered her mouth in shame. The other shifters turned to look at her and started to shame her, some of them saying "For shame!" And "How could you!?"

  
"It's not my fault! I forgot the other kid was listening in!" 

* * *

  
Eren blocked them out of his mind as he step out of the shower. He dried his hair and his body before throwing on his clothes. He opened the door, noting that the door suddenly became lighter when he placed his hand on the knob. 

  
He opened the door, stepping outside. Eren looked at his friends before saying, 

  
"Are we going or not?"

* * *

  
The dungeon is cold.

  
Although blankets, mattress, food, and everything else needed is provided for Annie like she was their own comrade, she feels out of place. Out of place like the Survey Corps emblem she wears on her jacket. 

  
Eren hadn't erased Bertolt and Reiner's memories of her, saying that they were childhood friends.

  
They didn't seem like friends when Reiner choked her into submission, or when she had beat him into a bloody pulp. 

  
She could still smell the steam wafting from him. 

  
Bertolt and Reiner are friends. Annie is not friends with them. She is just a warrior. No. . . she failed to become a warrior. 

  
She went back to Eren. Eren had threatened her, tried to kill her, made her feel genuine fear. All of that was just in a span of a hour. Sudden betrayal, a fight, and her getting captured. He was dangerous, a apex predator. Someone at the top of the food chain. 

  
Eren had kept his word, though, and lifted the curse off of her. She knew when after she had agreed to cooperate with them, she fell asleep. A small, child, high, female voice said that she was free. The weight of the curse had been lifted off of her, and she no longer felt several years older. He had promised her that she would get to see her Father again. 

  
Annie couldn't help but think he was naïve. Or was he? She had taught him techniques of hers, and he had gotten better through time. Was he just using her? Or did he actually wish to learn?

  
Annie doesn't know anymore. Conflicted, confused, perplexed. 

  
She thinks how she doesn't know Armin that well. She knows his interests, his mind, how his brain works, and his several battle strategies. But she doesn't actually know him.

  
She doesn't know her classmates. She doesn't know anyone at all.

  
She's just so tired. She had taken lives of about 10 people, had injured some beyond repair, but she hadn't complete her mission. She only cares about the stupid mission because it would mean she would see her Dad again. 

  
She guessed it wouldn't hurt to learn more about them. They did not trust her, however, and who could blame them? She had lied, she had deceived, she had killed their own. Annie couldn't help but want those days back, where she was trusted, included, kept in. 

  
Days like those that truly made her happy. But she doesn't know what will happen if she tries to learn more about them, she doesn't know what will happen in the future.

  
She puts on a hood, one with a zipper instead of her usual one. 

  
So she goes into the unknown.

* * *

  
The old Special Operations Squad come to see them off. 

  
Sasha notes that Annie stays back, in the carriage that will be transporting them into the deserted cabin. The huntress can see the small strands of blond hair stick out, but nothing else. 

  
Petra is in a wheelchair, so is Gunther. Eld and Oluo, however, have crutches. Levi asks how they have been holding up. Petra says that she is fine, although sitting down constantly tires her. Gunther says that he feels like he hadn't sit in years. Eld and Oluo say that they are uncomfortable with the crutches, but do just fine.

  
Oluo shouts, "Hey, you greenhorns, make sure that Leonhart doesn't go rampaging!" A sharp Yelp comes from his throat as Petra wheels herself over and elbows him in the gut since she is technically shorter now. 

  
"Oluo! We already know that they will take care of her!" Eld laughs as Gunther mutters a happy, "some things never change."

  
"Letters!" A mailman cries out, waving them in the air, "Letters for Connie Springer, Sasha Blouse, and Kare Milesworth!" 

  
"Ohhhh," Ymir chirps as she snatches the letters from the mailman's hand. Historia shakes his hand and says, "thank you" as she scolds Ymir for taking them out of his hands. Ymir pats Historia's head before she waves the letters, "I wonder what'cha got here!"

  
Eren shakes his head as Kare yoinks the letters out of Ymir's hands as she jokingly says, "sorry dad". Kare grabs his own before giving Sasha and Connie their own. 

  
Sasha smiles at hers, while Connie laughs. Kare, though, takes out another paper that the letter came with and began to look for a pen. Sapphire calmly plucked off one of her feathers and began to search for some ink. 

  
Reiner passed Sapphire some ink without knowing what she actually wanted. Annie watches him. Kare patted Sapphire on the head as he took the quill and dipped it in the ink before writing in perfect, cursive writing.

  
'I'm doing fine. Fuck you, too, Stacy. Tell Aunt Bitch I said hi. Your beloved cousin, Kare Milesworth'

  
Stacy's letter to him was literally just her dissing him, yet with affection. So he did the same. 

  
The mailman watches as Kare waved the paper around until the ink was dry and gave it to him, "Give it to Stacy Howard from the Garrison Branch, please." 

  
"I— uh— yes but are you sure you want to send this to her?" 

  
"Yep. This is normal for us."

  
"I. . . okay. . . " the mailman stepped away before running away awkwardly. He was running like a Titan. Kare scoffed with a smirk as he turned around. 

  
"Well, let's go," he takes out some more papers from the same letter and gives them to Sasha and Connie, "Write to your family on the way, I already did." Sapphire lands on Sasha's shoulder and nips at her hair as they go inside the carriage. 

  
Sapphire the proceeded to tug at Sasha's hair when she tried to steal from the supply carriage. 

  
The driver turns to see that Levi is still looking at his old team. Her eyes soften as she waves a hand, "Hey, we are going, sir!" Levi looks up as he turns around, boarding the carriage.

  
Hanji and Moblit board a separate one, clearly intent on experiments. Mostly Hanji. Moblit is just being dragged along. 

  
His old squad watches him. Petra asks, "Do you think that he'll be fine?"

  
"Yes. The captain will be just fine," Oluo assures, a smile coming onto his face. For once, he isn't trying to imitate the captain, but be himself, "He'll be fine, right?"

* * *

  
The carriage ride is mostly smooth, only a few bumps here and there. Connie and Sasha take turns writing to their parents using the shared quill, their letters more longer and more articulate then Kare's. Well, that was because Kare did not care because his love for Stacy would come across either way but still.

  
Sapphire is on Historia's shoulders. The Owl is currently nipping at rubbing her head against Levi's head, who looks very confused but takes it. At one point, he used a single finger to stroke her feathers.

  
Mikasa had sat beside Armin so that she wouldn't be squished in between Kare and Eren, so there. Ymir is leaning her head against Historia's, her eyes closed. It seems like she's sleeping, but she isn't lightly snoring so she's probably just trying to block everything out. 

  
Annie seems to be in her own little world. She's sitting a bit further away from everyone else, slowly blinking. It seems she's falling asleep. 

  
Kare thinks to talk to her. 

  
When they get there, it's at least medium. Enough rooms for two people at each, only one that serves for a one person. That one is probably gonna belong to Levi. It looks normal, really. 

* * *

  
Mikasa swings a arm back before lunging it down, the firewood splitting in half. She threw the split wood onto a pile before stretching out. 

  
Kare looked at her as he carried some of her firewood into the house, "I'm surprised that you used an axe. Thought for sure that you would just rip 'em in half," 

  
"What's the deal?" 

  
"Mikasa, Eren told me that you carried three crates at once. If that ain't a show of strength, I don't know what is."

  
Ymir shrugged, "Guess even the strongest have their limits, eh?" She looked towards Annie, who was carrying a crate. 

  
Annie had nothing to say. 

* * *

  
"Sasha! Clean your damn shoes!" Eren shouted as he furiously cleaned the dirt that was brought in, his inner-Doctor coming out. Historia looked at him, completely startled. 

  
_Grisha, you really have high cleaning standards._

  
_EVERYTHING MUST BE CLEAN, ADAM!_

  
"Oh, uh, sorry!" She laughs before putting the crate of food on the table and cleaning her said shoes, courtesy of a rag tossed by Eren. 

  
Armin swipes the underside of the table carefully, not leaving a speck of dust. He knows that Grisha has high cleaning standards because he's was doctor, but to pass it onto Eren!? This is just crazy! 

  
"Why are you so worked up, anyway?" Connie asks as he carries some bedding into the upstairs room. 

  
Eren turns to look at him, his half-bun almost coming undone from the movement, "You haven't heard? Captain Levi is a neat freak, and I'm not doing this to impress him. This whole place is dirty as fuck!" 

  
"OH! YOU GOT A CRUSH ON HIM!?" 

  
"NO! HE'S OLDER THEN ME, DAMMIT!" Historia and Armin had not seen anyone sweep so angrily before. 

  
"Oh, yeah! That's right! You like—" Connie is interrupted because of the broom Eren was holding 'accidentally' landing smack-dab onto his face. The soldier tumbled back a bit before recovering and looking at Eren with a look of betrayal in his eyes. 

  
"Whoops." Eren says, not even bothering to hide his ears. 

  
Armin has stopped wiping the table as he begins to help Sasha take out their rations, "Why do you think that we were chosen for the New Special Operations Squad? To keep an eye on Annie? Protect Historia?" 

  
Sasha turns her gaze towards some bread, "Probably because we're talented, or because most of us are apart of the Top 10." She shoved the bread into her bag. Armin's gaze darkens when he hears the shuffle, "Sasha, what did you put in your bag?" 

  
"Something that is not bread." 

  
"Day one, and Potato Girl is already being a thief!" Ymir hams in as she and Annie come into the house, "She's probably gonna eat the whole house at this point!" 

  
"No!"

  
As Annie enters the room, she does her best to seem nonexistent. They don't trust her, and she understands why. So she goes and leans on the wall, looking at Eren who is the only one cleaning. 

  
Eren blocked them out as he began to inspect the places he had just cleaned. All of it was glaringly obvious, how did they not notice the amount of muck, dirt, and grime? He furiously began until everything was spotless as far as the others could see. He sat down on a chair and banged his head onto it. 

  
"Hey, what's the rush?" Ymir asks as she places a hand on his back. In her hands is bread, which she hadn't eaten. Probably for Historia. 

  
"He's going to be here any minute, Ymir."

  
"Just cause he's talking with Section Commander Hanji doesn't mean he's going to be here any minute, Bright Eyes," she assures as she pats his head. Eren moves his head so that it's unseen by the table. 

  
Levi then comes in, a black jacket draped over, off his shoulders. Eren tilts his head up and is ready to plant a hand on his face. Levi places a hand under the table and swipes it under.

  
Nothing comes down.

  
"Not bad," Levi compliments. Eren pointed at Armin in order to give credit before his hand dropped, "Decide who is the fucking person that's going to make dinner tonight. Make sure it's not shitty at all." Levi walked out of the cabin to converse to Hanji and Moblit more.

  
They all look at Eren. 

  
Eren shakes his head. Tired. He is so tired. He is not cooking tonight. Maybe another time, but not tonight. 

  
(He ignores the persistent susurrant saying that he wants someone to chase away his nightmares)

  
Instead, he points as Connie and Sasha with two fingers before falling asleep. 

  
Kare once again has to carry him to a room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TGWS Eren: smart, strong, will not hesitate even if it hurts him  
> Also TGWS: has one brain cell when it comes to love
> 
> The next few chapters are gonna showcase Annie's Character development cause she deserves to get some spotlight after staying in a crystal for years. 
> 
> I'm bouta explore her character even more lol
> 
> If you have a tumblr, would you like to follow my own called cloudymooncake?
> 
> (also sorry for poking fun at Ereri. I don't hate it, I just feel uncomfortable with the ship.)


	31. Annie Gets The Time She Deserves, Part 1

Sitting at the table, everyone staring at her, Annie is nervous. She has always been a lone wolf, on her own, never interacting with anyone unless someone prompts her to. The tense looks everyone gives her makes her feel like a fish in a tree. 

  
Armin had told her that Kare thought of her as 'suspicious, untrustworthy' judging how he acted around her. At the remarks people would make, Annie would have never felt anything. She would always feel indifferent.

  
Coming from someone she trained with and kept a eye on was supposed to feel no different. Instead, she felt a pain in her chest. 

  
In private, Connie had asked her continuously, that usual energy gone from his voice as he asked, 'why', 'why did you betray us'. 

  
She doesn't know how to tell them that she had no choice as a weak girl. 

  
Annie looks down, Levi glaring at her, his gunmetal eyes trained on her. She had almost killed his former squad, and he must hate her. She had kill soldiers, really. She knew how much it will hurt their families, so she ignores the looks. 

  
But Levi is here. 

  
And Annie feels like she's going to drown. 

  
Finally, she speaks after long, suffocating silence.

  
"I regret it," she begins, "I never wanted any of this. I never wanted to come here, I never wanted to kill people, I never wanted to slaughter those I cared about. I hate every single bit of it. . . but. . ."

  
"'But'?" Connie asks, "Are you lying and saying you actually would do it all over again!? Did you actually enjoy toying with us!?" Connie springs up from his seat and slams his hands on the table. Sasha grabs his arm and attempts to pull him back down. 

  
"Sit down," Eren orders, "You haven't given her a chance to explain."

  
"Eren, she is one of the causes of this!" Connie shouts back, "She brought the Titans that ate innocent civilians, she killed soldiers, she's one of the reasons that your mother is dead!"

  
Pain flashes through Eren's eyes. However, he keeps assertive, "Sit. Down."

  
"I—"

  
"He isn't in the mood," Levi defends, "Sit your ass down, Springer." 

  
Connie gulps and sits down, the commanding tone of Levi enough to keep him in line for now. Annie sits there, silent, taking it all in. Kare prompts her to speak, "Talk where you left off."

  
His tone of voice isn't the usual carefree one. It was one of fury underneath. Kare had never really been the one to show it, but his body language and voice told it all. 

  
Everything hurt. From Connie's yelling, to Levi's glares, to Kare's distinct distrust towards her. 

  
But she follows, "But if I needed to see my father again. . . I would repeat the same mistakes all over."

  
No one yelled. They seemed to understand. 

  
Eren leans over at his seat and grabs her hand. Startled, she tries to pull away. Eren's grip is firm, unrelenting as he forces her to stay in place. Then he says, "Tell us more."

  
Her mouth moves with force.

* * *

  
"I don't know. My mother probably had a affair with a Eldian."

  
Annie sits down, a gauze over her forearm. She had just had blood drawn from her, and now they were seeing if she was a Marleyan or Eldian.

  
She hears some of the doctors shout in disgust about touching a devil. She knows immediately. 

  
"I was moved to a zone, where I was adopted by my father,"

  
A pat on her shoulders, a masculine voice saying that he is her father now.

  
"He trained me to be a warrior, so that I could grant him a life of luxury,"

  
Her legs against the padding of the tightly knotted bags. Frantic, continuous. Without stop.

  
"And I held him in hate for it,"

  
The crunches, the grunts. Her kicking him while he was down, screaming the entire time.

  
"I was enlisted, and I inherited the Female Titan alongside Reiner, Bertolt, and Marcel. We were paraded around."

  
She hears the cheers, the wheels of the carriage. The cries, the waves, the wind.

  
That were nothing more then false joy.

  
"He apologized to me that day. My Father. He begged me to come home, one last time. I made him a promise, and I intend to keep it."

  
The begging, the pleads, the sincerity of his words. 

  
She truly wanted to see him again. 

* * *

  
"Marcel?" Annie looks back and at Ymir, who had a eyebrow raised, "Who is Marcel, former boyfriend?" 

  
Annie remembers the feeling of shock at seeing the sharp teeth of Ymir's Titan gnawing at her muscles, ripping them out. It was so familiar, and she blurted out the answer.

  
"He was the one who had the Jaw Titan before you, Ymir."

  
Historia jerks back and turns to Ymir, "Did you actually—"

  
"The Owl said that Pure Titans don't have any control of their own actions," Armin intervenes quickly, "So it's very unlikely that Ymir did it out of her own free will."

  
"What was he supposed to do?" Kare asks, "Rip out cannons? Or carry you?"

  
"Carry us. His Titan was agile, so we could've gotten to the wall quicker." 

  
"What happened after Ymir ate him?" 

  
". . . I wanted to end the mission," Annie confesses, "I saw no point in it if one of us had died. That was a failure in my eyes. Reiner wanted to continue the mission. So. . . we fought."

  
She looks down, "I beat him into the ground. He strangled me. Bertolt only watched from the sidelines, crying and begging us to stop."

  
Mikasa looks away. She's moving her fingers, her eyes closed. She takes in everything. She looks at Annie then and questions, "You were clearly stronger then Reiner if you managed to beat him up. Why go along anyway?"

  
"Because I'm a weak girl."

* * *

  
Annie lays down on the bed, barely having eaten her dinner. She doesn't feel hungry, her appetite lost. She isn't shackled, chained like she was back at the Survey Corps HQ. But that doesn't make her feel any better. In the attic, it's surprisingly big enough for rooms. 

  
Annie wakes up in the middle of the night to a sweet smell. She turns on the lantern beside her and sees a tray innocently sitting on the desk beside her. On the tray is water and three donuts, one with paste, one normal, and one seemingly buttered. On the tray is also a note.

  
'You haven't eaten that much, right? Eat this. It'll probably be cold when you wake up.'

  
Donuts. She hadn't really ate them since Carly's departure. So she wonders how the person who made this knows the recipe. 

  
Wait. Sasha lived in the wild with her dad and thus doesn't know much about sweet things, and everyone else probably doesn't know her to cook. 

  
She remembers soft, foreign, bright eyes looking at her with pity. 

  
Eren.

  
Eren was probably the one. She doesn't feel like he is pitying her unlike the time they fought. Instead, it seems concerned about her. 

  
She can't help the smile on her face.

* * *

  
Annie backs away from Connie, who is sniffing at her. Why was he coming so close to her? Didn't he hate her? Connie keeps on sniffing until he's pulled back by Kare, whose eyes trails down to him. 

  
"She just smells like sweets, okay!? I'm craving some now!"

  
"Isn't Sasha a good cook?" Kare raises a eyebrow, "Tell her to bake sweets for you, then. Or maybe Historia, since she knows how to make cookies."

  
"Sasha has eaten and cooked meat for most of her life, Conejo!" Connie protests. Annie takes the chance to slowly shuffle away, "Do you think she knows how to cook sweets?"

  
"You can't know until you try it," Kare dropped Connie onto his feet, "Just ask her. If not, ask Historia. If not, ask Eren."

  
Connie grumbled as he sauntered away, hunchbacked. Kare leaned against the wall and asked, "Was it Eren?"

  
"No."

  
"You are lying," Kare cross his arms together, "So it was Eren, huh?" 

  
Annie narrows her eyes. More harsher tone, more possessive. Yet not treating someone as a object, but someone that they love. Jealousy. 

  
"Are you jealous?" Annie eyes go flat when Kare jerks backwards a bit, him hitting the all with his head. He let out a small hissing sound before trying to talk. No doubt, he was trying to deny it. 

  
"Kare, you do realize your a bad liar, right?"

  
Kare nodded. 

  
"Not to mention that one time when you had liquid leaves on your face while looking at Eren."

  
Silence. Kare looked at Annie, and she didn't see the distrust in his eyes. Instead, his eyes were full of resignation. 

  
"You always teased Hanna and Franz. In truth, you were envious of them, right?" 

  
He looked away. 

  
"Kare," she says, placing a hand on his shoulder. She notes that he doesn't jerk away unlike the other times she was near. Strange. She thought he hated her?

  
"You do realize the harder you keep your feelings for someone, the harder you fall in love with them, right?"

  
"You're," Kare stresses, clearly attempting to steer the conversation away. Annie thinks it is a piss-poor attempt. Kare thinks so too, "Awfully talkative, Annie."

  
"Well, someone has to fill in this silence," she states bluntly. Her blue eyes watch as Kare relaxes his position. Deciding to spare him for now, she says," Armin told me that you don't trust me. Your body language towards me helps his statement."

  
"Can you blame me?" Kare looks at her, eyes filled with hurt. Hurt that she caused. "You lived under our noses for three years. We all thought that you were comrades, yet you killed so many. Even if you didn't mean it, that doesn't change anything."

  
Past things, large or small, will always be remembered by everyone. Regardless how you meant, what you wanted, why you did it, all of it will be remembered without fail until they die, or until you die.

  
Annie is glad, actually. She is happy that none of the past shifters talk to her. They would've just brainwashed her more and more, be outraged at being called out, what they did wrong. 

  
"But I don't blame you. I would've done everything to see my parents again," her head almost hits the wall with the whiplash, "I would've killed. I would've spared no one.

  
"Even your friends?"

  
Annie goes stiff in place when she feels something crawl up her nape. Slim appendages left the back of her neck, retreating back to a blank-faced Kare. He then walked off. His footsteps were heavy, a clear indication of upset. 

  
She had went far. 

* * *

  
Her hood up on her head, Annie wants to feel alone. So she goes outside, to the trees, pass the chopped wood, no doubt by Mikasa. 

  
She goes to a tree, and kicks it. The movements slightly rough, as she hasn't really practiced that much after being moved to the Scouting Legion. She was kept under guard heavily. 

  
The tree isn't as great as the bags, and splinters of wood always break off. Sometimes they fly in her face with the amount of force she puts into the hits. But Annie makes do. 

  
Her leg hovers over the air as she hears a rustle of grass. Her leg leaving and being planted on the ground, Annie looks towards the source of the noise. 

  
Out comes a lone wolf, white and proud, with scars. The wolf is medium, so Annie first thought of it as a coyote. 

  
Wolves are timid creatures, never attacking anyone unless threatened. The wolf looks at Annie for a moment, and she looks back. The wolf then scuffles a bit until it his sitting on the ground, looking at Annie. 

  
Is the wolf waiting for her to do something? 

  
No. The wolf is just looking at Annie, not bearing any intent of harm towards her. So she goes back to the trees, and continues kicking. 

  
Annie stops kicking once again when she hears the sound of boots. She looks behind herself to see Mikasa, white shirt wrapped around her waist, drenched in sweat. Over her shoulders is several bags, probably straw or flour. 

  
"What are you doing?" Annie asks. The wolf behind her shifts itself and looks at Mikasa.

  
Mikasa shifts her shoulders, causing the bags to bounce a bit. 

  
"Yes but why."

  
Mikasa looks at her expectantly. 

  
"Is it because Connie and Sasha were fooling around?"

  
Mikasa nods. She then turns to the wolf. The wolf tilts its head and looks back at Mikasa. 

  
"Volk." Annie says to her. Her father had taught her this language. She remembered the language well. Originally, it was just to communicate with Reiner and Bertolt without giving anything away. 

  
Mikasa looks as if Annie had kicked over three trees in one move.

  
"Okami," Mikasa replies to her. Annie know looks as if Mikasa had shattered the Earths core.

  
Mikasa was wondering what the fuck a volk was. Annie was thinking about what a Okami was. 

  
Mikasa walked away while Annie stared at the wolf.

* * *

  
Sitting down on a log, Annie rocks it back and forth slowly. The wolf from before watches her, it's tail swishing against the grass. The wolf hadn't left her alone, and had stayed by her side the whole time. 

  
Was it curious?

  
Annie looks up at footsteps to see Armin approaching her. In his hands is a thick book with old-smelling paper. From the book Annie can smell salt, breeze, and parchment. 

  
Armin looks at her. Sensing his intentions, Annie pats down the spot next to her on the log. The other blond sat down on it, the wolf inspecting him carefully. 

  
"Annie," he begins, "Uh. . ."

  
"You want something. What is it?"

  
Armin opens the book to reveal quick, messy sketches of the outside world. Underneath the pictures are small notes that almost fill up the whole page. Annie is really glad to be able to read Eldian.

  
Armin licked his finger and placed it on the top corner of the page. He began to turn it over, but Annie places a hand on his wrist. Armin pointed towards the picture and asked, "What does the ocean really look like?"

  
The almost childish drawing almost makes Annie laugh. However, she holds it in, "It's flatter. It isn't like that picture. It is also blue, but that is because it reflects the sky."

  
Armin takes out a pencil and begins to write on the page, listening to Annie. After he is done, he turns to the next page. 

  
Despite the drawing, Annie sees it is a glacier.

  
"They can cover a whole continent. They move very slowly."

  
Next is the Aurora Borealis. 

  
"We call them Northern Lights. They mostly appear in cold places."

  
Volcanoes.

  
"Hot. Can burn you."

  
Sand.

  
"Sand. Think of soil but it gets into your feet."

  
Just as Armin was about to turn to the next page of his notes, Annie placed a hand on his wrist. She used that same hand to turn his head up and ask, "You aren't just showing me this because you want to know about the outside world, right?"

  
Armin laughed a bit and nodded.

  
"Well, what is the real reason?"

  
Red spread across his face. Armin was never that great at hiding his emotions. You think that because he was smart, he would be able to.

  
"Because. . ."

  
Annie waited patiently.

  
"Because I wanted to see you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conejo - Rabbit in Spanish  
> Volk - Wolf in Russian  
> Okami - Wolf in Japanese
> 
> I had Annie be a bit more open and talkative cause she feels like she can trust them even if they don't trust her
> 
> And because she deserves screentime after being in a crystal for years 
> 
> Also there is more Annie and Armin moments then you think lol


	32. Annie Decides to Pack Bond, Part 2

"I'm sorry."

  
Connie jerked his head upwards at Annie's apology. She had walked towards him, and he had stayed silent. None of them had opened their mouths until right now.

  
"I know that saying sorry isn't enough. I deceived, I lied, I killed, and none of that is going to be enough to fix what can be broken. I cannot mend anything that I have done. But I want to try."

  
There was nothing but sincerity in her words. But Connie found it hard to forgive her. Sure, they hadn't talked much. But Bertolt always spoke highly of her when asked, and her skills were incredible. Even if they hadn't interacted, Connie looked up to her.

  
Now? It felt broken. 

  
But Levi had told them that they should talk and bond with Annie — coming from a stoic and probably emotionally constipated man that was a clean freak, that was surprising — so they had to listen.

  
Connie speaks, "Don't get me wrong, I still find it hard to forgive you. But we uh," cursing in Spanish under his breath, "Need to start somewhere, so now. . . is the best time."

  
"Let's start fresh a bit," He holds out a hand, "I'm Connie Springer, I ranked eighth in the Top Ten Southern Division, thought that my heart was on my right, and do stupid things with Sasha."

  
Annie looks at his hand before clasping it with hers, "Annie Leonhart. A traitor, ranked fourth, and socially distance myself."

* * *

  
Ymir can't help but snort, "Wait, you don't want help with chopping wood?"

  
Historia nodded in response. Ymir laughed a bit, "Well, don't come at me if you can't lift up the axe!" She deserved the light punch given to her by her girlfriend. 

  
Annie back inside the cabin and sees Ymir, who is waving at Historia despite her not even going on a trip. Historia had then went out of the cabin, holding something. Annie walked up to Ymir, which caused the other to laugh,

  
"Finally! I was wonderin' when you would talk to me!"

  
Annie looks away. Ymir had always been bold, eccentric at times, and would always flaunt her relationship with Historia, saying that she had the best girlfriend ever. But she was also kind in her own way, making fun of people to get their minds off of things, crude jokes to lighten the mood. Annie did not know how to talk to someone so confrontational. 

  
"Getting cold feet, Annie?"

  
Finding something, Annie tugged her over to the table, and sat her down. She ran upstairs and got some paper and pen before running back down to see Ymir still there. Because if Ymir was from Marley like they were, then she should know that language. So carefully, Annie wrote herring in that language and pointed at it.

  
"Herring?" Ymir questions. She lays back and crosses her arms, "It's not my favourite but it'll do it times of need." A look of realization crosses her face, and then she looks at Annie.

  
"So you do know Marleyan."

  
"Duh. I was taught in that language after getting a damn name."

  
Annie looked at Ymir like she had hung the damn moon.

  
"Oh, shit. Right," she rubbed the back of her neck, being extra careful with her nape, "You, uh. . . weren't there. I used to be a orphan and didn't have a name until some assholes came and 'adopted'—" she put up her hands and moved her pointer and middle down two times, "—me. Long story short, I became a Goddess, got a name, bed, warm food until we got found out and I was sentenced to be Titanized."

  
The blonde turned away as Ymir continued, "Yeah. The other countries are pretty fucked up."

  
"Anyway, you wanna fuck Armin or not?"

  
Annie choked. 

  
"You have been giving him those bedroom eyes for a bit. You also seem to let your guard down around him," Ymir leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms, "So when are you two gonna bang?" 

  
"Could you not?"

  
"I could yes."

  
Ymir pissed her off, even if she didn't show it. She always kept on rambling and would say the first thing that came to her mind. Damn girl.

  
"I can see it now," Ymir uncrossed her arms and spar her hands out, being careful not to hit Annie in the face, "Annie and Armin,"

  
"Stop that."

  
"Sittin' in a tree,"

  
"Ymir,"

  
"K-I-S-S-I—"

  
Annie grabbed the chair Ymir was sitting on and with a quick movement, she toppled it over. The other girl yelped in surprise as she fell down onto the stony floor. Ymir laid on her back for a bit, silent.

  
"Judging by your reaction, you wanna fuck him?"

  
Annie stomped out of the room. Ymir watched, a smile on her lips, "Well, it's about time I got a reaction out of her."

* * *

  
Annie sat on a log, muttering to herself at cursing out Ymir. She wouldn't be bothered if they were younger, but why was she so angered now? 

  
It didn't make any sense. She wasn't near with Hitch, nor with anyone else. She wasn't near with anyone at all. Why did it bother her so much?

  
Why? Why now?

  
"Is this what you do at the Military Police on your day-off?"

  
Annie looked up to see Eren, something hoisted over his shoulder. He looks like he had just come back from something, probably hunting. 

  
"No. Ymir angered me."

  
"How?"

  
"By telling me that I wanted to... Armin,"

  
Eren presses his lips together and lurched a bit. He was trying to hold back a laugh and was doing terrible at it. He opened his mouth and inhaled several times until his face turned back to normal, which he asked, "You do realize that she is just like that, right?" 

  
He leaves out the fact that he thinks that she and Mikasa should spar again.

  
"I don't have social skills."

  
"Yet you are talking with me right now. You seemed to hold up a pretty good conversation with Connie and Ymir."

  
"I said short sentences."

  
"Damn," a smile came on his face, "I didn't know you were stubborn."

  
"It was my job to kill you," she retorts, "That's why I never came close to anyone. I couldn't get attached."

  
"Then tell me," he says, the smile dropping, "If you did befriend us, would you kill us?"

  
Annie went rigid at the question. She stayed silent as a Eren stood there, waiting for her answer. When she didn't, he speaks again.

  
"Take Marco for example," he sets down what is hoisted over his shoulder, "Say, during Trost, if Reiner and Bertolt were talking about something that involved their mission and he overheard. . ."

  
He stops for a moment before picking up, "Marco would probably pretend that he didn't hear anything yet he would piece everything together quickly. Then he gets caught since both of them are faster and stronger then him. Say that he cries for help and you come,"

  
"What would you do, Annie?"

  
Everything was chosen carefully. Everything he had just said was a mere test, yet it was a possibility. The scenario could've happened if later, if Eren did not deal the breach in the beginning. 

  
It doesn't take her long enough to realize that he is testing her.

  
She thinks. Three possible options are present: Annie helps them kill Marco, she does nothing, she kills them and spares Marco. Which one does she choose? Which one?

  
'If I killed Marco, what then? Everything is covered up, but I will have killed someone innocent. If I do nothing, I watch them kill him. But if I kill them and not Marco. . .'

  
Like she realized before. The scenario Eren gave her is nothing more then a possibility, something that could've happened during the battle. She changed the subject quickly with a, "Thank you for the donuts."

  
The serious look on his face is replaced, "Donuts? I know you like sweets, but I'm not sure I made them. . ." Eren then went ahead and went back, "You have enough time to decide your answer."

  
He turned and walked away, muttering, "Can't believe Commander Erwin told me to do that."

  
Annie is left alone.

* * *

  
Historia is on her way of having a moderate day.

  
Days are usually moderate. Same old, same old. Like this day. Do the things Levi has asked, free time, time with Ymir, dinner, sleep. She likes it this way.

  
So when Annie comes towards her, Historia is now on her way of having a different moderate day. 

  
"It's strange," Annie admits, "That you aren't acting like the kind girl. I always thought that you just wanted attention."

  
Attention? Yeah, probably. Historia remembers Frieda's words about being 'ladylike' when she had visited her one time. Ladylike. That word meant being a slave. She didn't know what Frieda actually meant, she was probably downgrading it for her. 

  
"I think it's strange that you decided to work with us despite your mission," Historia cannot help but retort. 

  
"I know when to stop," Annie explains as she watches Historia drop some firewood down onto a pile. "Are you practicing?" 

  
"No, I'm chopping."

  
"Yes, I know what chopping wood looks like," Annie sat down, "But why?" 

  
Historia bites her lips and says, "Do you think I have what it takes? To be queen?" 

  
Annie furrowed her brows for a moment, thinking. Finally, she answers, "Yes, I do."

  
Historia was surprised. Seeing it, Annie explained, "For one, even if it was a facade, your care for everyone else during your time as Krista Lenz was genuine at times, even if you say you only cared for yourself and Ymir. For two, you kind of have to, since you are of royal blood. For three, you take the leader role when Jean or Armin aren't around. So yes, you'd make a good leader."

  
The newfound confidence on Historia's face makes Annie almost smile.

* * *

  
Talking to Levi had been one of the most stressful things in Annie's life. With others, she was okay with, but with him? No. 

  
She had maimed all of his former squad, ending their lives as soldiers and forcing them into a life of civilian. Levi had no reason to forgive Annie. 

  
So here they are. At night, at the table. The only thing that is keeping them from seeing each other was a lantern. With Annie she held a cup of coffee with cream and sugar. With Levi, black tea. 

  
None of them had spoken. Only the occasional lift and clank of the cups they had. 

  
Levi talks, "Y'know, when Shitty Glasses' letter came to me late, I thought they were taking a shit but the shirt wouldn't come out."

  
Annie did not expect that. 

  
"Where's your sense of humour from?" 

  
"Guy who raised me," he replies, taking a nice sip of his tea, "I don't know whether I should blame you or not, Leonheart."

  
Huh? 

  
"You killed several soldiers, maimed them, and put my former squad on leave permanently," Annie shifts a bit at the list of what she had done on that expedition, "But you did it because of some shitty orders from Marley."

  
'What is he trying to say?'

  
"But I blame Marley mostly," he reveals, "Shit-for-brains sent sina-forsaken children to solve their problems cause they were too damn weak willed. They couldn't leave the damn Eldians alone just because of some prejudice." 

  
"Can't let go of their prejudice, and look where their shifters are now." 

  
They had talked a bit more until Levi said for her to go to sleep. When she was upstairs and on the bed she thinks,

  
'Fuck. I drank too much coffee.'

* * *

  
The wolf had come back, and as per usual, Annie and the wolf stared at one another. Despite that, the wolf never made any move to attack her, or even create a gesture of harm. 

  
An arrow then came whizzing by, causing the Wolf to yelp and run away. Annie turns around and catches the bow that Sasha is holding quickly with a, "Stop."

  
"It's a wolf!" 

  
"Yes, but it is my wolf," she takes the bow from the other and places it down, "So don't kill him."

  
"Him?" 

  
"You can tell by their di—"

  
Sasha waves her hands in front frantically, "I know, I know! I shouldn't have asked!" 

  
Annie looks at her before tugging her down onto the grass. Sasha makes a noise but complies, sitting down. Annie wonders what to talk about when she finds the perfect thing — constellations. It was a starry night, after all. 

  
She points upwards and spots Draco, "Sasha, did you know that if you connect certain stars, they form a shape? Like this one," Annie drags her finger across the sky and reveals the shape, "Draco."

  
"Wait, really?" 

  
'Eldians in the walls don't know about them? Then again, they are in constant fear of the other Eldians.'

  
Annie points at another one, and watches as Sasha's face lights up. 

  
She thinks that the walls aren't so bad for a place to live in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Humans will pack bond with anything. 
> 
> Annie has a wolf now. 
> 
> Sorry I don't make the rules. 
> 
> Also
> 
> Me, wondering if I should make Aruani canon or Mikannie in my fic: 😐


	33. More Annie Shit Cause She Deserves It, Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUCKIMG FINALLY I GOT THIS FINISHED AND POSTED. 
> 
> It was originally going to be composited as 33 and 34 together, but I decided to split them.

Annie reads over what Erwin had written about the experiments that he had Hanji do. From what she had heard of them, they were eccentric to an extreme amount to the point where their assistant, Executive Officer Moblit would drink at times. She felt extremely sorry for him, as well as Kare, who got roped in to help them when he showed interest. 

  
Beyond that, she was going to harden herself. Yes, she had done it several times, but she was going to harden her whole Titan body. She wasn't used to that, so she was genuinely concerned. 

  
It made sense for her. Eren couldn't do it since he couldn't copy the other abilities unlike her. 

  
As she steps outside and meets Hanji who clasps their hands with hers and tells her that they is looking forward to work with her. 

  
'Huh.'

  
Annie goes out into the open space and cuts her finger open using that blade of her ring. She blinks in surprise when her Titan steams into existence instead of its usual lightning blast. 

  
A sudden shout makes her turn her head to see Ymir and Eren having opened up the window and fall outside. Which, that is, the second floor. Also known by the fact Kare and Historia had to catch them both. Ymir looked up to her and smiled while Eren sighed in relief at seeing her Titan. 

  
"Annie, Annie!" Hanji shouts. Annie turns to them, and they point to a empty cave nearby. "Okay, so, you are going to harden your entire Titan body and seal up this cave, okay?" 

  
Annie nods, her eyes closing. Hanji's face goes red as they make a strange noise. Eren's owl flew out of the cabin and landed on Hanji's shoulder, looking around. 

  
'She probably thought it was a bird,' Annie walks towards the cave, her back towards everyone else. She needed to get out of her Titan, after all. 

  
Then she exerts most of the energy she has into hardening. 

  
She can feel the muscles go stiff, the limbs, everything. But mostly it was from her legs, slowly travelling upwards. 

  
A few minutes later, at her waist, she feels herself beginning to grow tired. Her eyes droop as she does her best to force them to awake. 

  
'C'mon, c'mon—'

  
But she can't stay awake. Her arms drop as she closes her eyes. Mikasa calls her name as she hears footsteps running towards her. The sudden noise of transforming informs her that either Eren or Ymir transformed. 

* * *

  
Ymir climbs onto her and tears into her nape, being careful so that she doesn't cut off her limbs or anything else. Pulling out, she lands and drops her onto the grass as softly as she can. The saliva that she is slightly coated it steams away quickly, as does the Titan flesh surrounding her. 

  
Armin rests Annie's head on his lap when he sits down on the ground. As they hover over her, Mikasa can't help but think about the marks on her skin. They were more sharper then Eren's or Ymir's, though shorter. Ymir's marks were jagged, befitting for the Jaw. Eren's was more slant, with little ones in-between. 

  
"So she can't do it all in one go, huh?" Hanji sighs, tossing their notebook at Monlit who reluctantly takes some notes. "Guess we'll have to maximize her endurance more."

  
"Wait," Eren looks up, "What do you mean by that?" 

  
"Section Commander means going to an open area and fighting one of you," Moblit explains. 

  
'I'm gonna help Founder Ymir with that,'

  
Likewise, Levi hears and mutters a, "Dammit, Shitty Glasses." 

  
"But of course," they clap their hands, "We are going to do that once she is up and raring to go!" 

  
"She exhausted most of her energy, Section Commander," Kare retorts, "Can't she at least have a hour or two?"

  
"Yep!" 

  
"You agree way too quickly sometimes..."

* * *

  
Annie wakes up. In her bed. A wet rag on her forehead. 

  
Beside her is Mikasa, who is holding a basin, "You've been out for about an hour. Section Commander Hanji wants to pit you against Ymir and Eren in order to test your endurance." 

  
"Tell them to give me another hour. I still want to sleep."

  
"If it has been an hour and you still want to sleep?" 

  
"I'll sleep through the whole day if needed."

  
"You need to eat food."

  
"Shhhhhhh," Annie places a finger to Mikasa's lips, "I have begun to hibernate."

  
Annie then stuffed her face into the pillows, closed her eyes, and began to sleep. 

  
Or try to. 

* * *

  
Waking up to a very excited Hanji beckoned Annie to almost kick them in the face just like she did with Kenny. They had dodged simply and laughed it off before Annie was dragged outside after she managed to get some food in her stomach. 

  
In the clearance was Ymir, already in her Titan form. Small, yet formidable. Not like Marcel's Jaw Titan, but enough. 

  
So she had transformed in return. 

  
Once her head had formed, Ymir attacked swiftly. Annie almost screamed at seeing her crawl up her legs, those sharp teeth bared. Quickly regaining her bearings, Annie reached a hand out and strikes Ymir across the face. As she did, she felt a spark of pain up her Titan hand and saw that Ymir was clinging onto it. 

  
She blubbered at the scene. Ymir then tore off some of her fingers, causing her to hum in pain. 

  
("Poor flowers," Connie says, flinching at the smack on the head given to him by Sasha as per request of Mikasa.)

  
"Huh," Hanji began to write down, "So she isn't used to fighting someone smaller then her." It made sense. She had less room to work with, and didn't have time to punch at spots that were exposed. 

  
They looked back up to see Annie having tore off the left foot, causing Ymir to plop down onto the ground. As she reached down, the other gnawed onto her hand and crawled onto her arm, tearing it out where it was connected to the elbow. 

  
"Section Commander," Moblit places a hand on Hanji's shoulder, "This isn't a spar. This is a full on brawl..."

  
"Yeah, but I wonder..." Hanji raised their voice, "Hey! Annie! Do you think that if you eat one of the teeth on Ymir's Titan, you'd be able to get sharp teeth?" 

  
The two girls stopped fighting and looked at Hanji. After that, Ymir crawled onto the shoulder of the other and opened her mouth, where Annie yanked out a tooth. Historia shouted in concern, backing away when Ymir put up a hand. 

  
Annie then ate the tooth. 

  
After a moment, the Female Titan closed her mouth, her now healed hand over it. She then took it off and opened it to reveal sharp teeth. She put Ymir down on the ground and Hanji ran over, Moblit running after them.

  
"Wow!" They cried out, "Amazing!" They gestured for Ymir to open up her own, and she did. Their teeth was the exact same. 

  
"Yes, yes!" 

  
"Sha...rp," Ymir seems to smile before rasping out. Hanji got excited once more, talking to Ymir while they watched from the sidelines. 

  
Moblit narrowed his eyes, "That wasn't in the letter the Owl sent us..."

  
Eren, meanwhile, was silently cursing out Kruger since he didn't tell him. But that didn't matter, since the past Jaw, Attack, and Founding had went into the Paths to keep Ymir company. 

  
"It's hard though," Hanji places a hand on their head, "Ymir's teeth are sharp, so she can't talk as much. There was another Titan that talked..."

  
"Huh?" 

  
Moblit sighed, "A few years ago, Section Commander Hanji and the original Special Operations Squad found a notebook belong to Ilse Lagnar. She died to a Titan that could talk. The Titan also called her Lady Ymir."

  
Eyes turned to the Jaw, who had gone stiff. 

  
A stream of steam comes out from the Jaw's nape as Ymir tears herself away, walking towards the cabin. Historia runs after her in order to make sure that she is okay. 

  
Hanji bites their lip while Moblit closes his eyes. The Section Commander then shouted, gesturing Eren to come so that he and Annie could test their endurance. Or beat the ever-loving-shit out of each other. 

  
Transforming, Eren's mind travels back to Sawney and Bean. 

* * *

  
"Sawney!" A soldier shouts as Sawney almost untied the logs, "No! Bad!" Sawney titled her head, pretending to be confused like she always does. Sawney, after able to gain back most of her human traits, had turned out to be a little shit. She frequently would mess things up on purpose to see the reaction of others. She would then looked away and accuse Bean of doing what she had done. 

  
Bean, on the other hand, had been well-behaved. Doing what he was told and letting some trim his moustache. He answered their questions by writing on the ground and would sometimes clean up the messes of Sawney. Eren hadn't told them their actual names, and told the soldiers that the two titans actually liked those names. 

  
Currently, the two titans were assigned to tie some logs together. Bean had done so, but Sawney was just doing it over and over again out of sheer, utter, boredom! 

  
A few Scouting Legion soldiers look on, pressing their lips into a thin line.

  
"Should we put a tent over Sawney tonight?" 

  
"Then we should do the same to Bean! It's only fair."

  
Sawney was still proud of herself. Bean, meanwhile, had a hand placed on his face even with his restricted movements because of the rope and some nails holding their legs down. 

* * *

  
The spar between Eren and Annie had gone on for some time. Neither of them had forfeited, and neither of them backed down. They just kept on going. Blood was evaporating everywhere, limbs as well as bones. Someone was complaining that some of it got on their clothes, maybe it was Levi. 

  
Because of the fact Annie and Eren's Titans were about the same height, they could fight well. Or rather beat the absolute shit out of each other, it didn't matter. Annie had an advantage due to her being able to harden her fists. Eren, meanwhile, relied on brute strength more and ripping off the limbs of her Titan. 

  
When the sun began to set, the two titans flopped onto the grassy ground, exhausted. The catch was that they did it on their stomachs, allowing their napes to be exposed. After a minute or two, they finally came out. 

  
By this point, Ymir had come back and was sad that she didn't get to see most of the fight. 

  
As they both stepped down, they wobbled for a moment. Then Annie fell to her knees while Eren just straight up landed back-first onto the ground. They were both groaning loudly. 

  
"Let that be a lesson of not fucking fighting until sundown, brats." Levi places a hand on his face, very tired of their bullshit. 

* * *

  
"Why don't you use the Founder to convince everyone that Historia has always been Queen?" 

  
Surrounded by the others on a bed, Eren looks up. Annie is just laying down, but she does turn her head. 

  
Sasha continues her question, "The Owl said that the Founding can erase memories, can take and give, manipulate the physical appearance, and can also control every Eldian. Why can't you do that?" 

  
Eren sighs, "W— I have been trying," 'we' as in both Ymir's and him, including the past shifters, "But for some reason I can't do anything."

  
"Perhaps," Armin says, "There is a mental block between that?" 

  
"Most likely," Mikasa sits down, "Otherwise, this whole thing would have been a lot easier. Eren could take away what makes Eldian's into Titans, after all."

  
Eren looks down, at his hands. Then he looks at Annie and wonders.

  
'I wonder if Ymir would like to have her as a friend.'

* * *

  
True to his word, Founder Ymir did love Annie as a friend. She climbed her like a tree, played with her hair, and taught her sign language. 

  
There totally wasn't a time where she asked Annie what fuck meant and then Eren finding himself almost skewered as Annie chases after him, Freckled Ymir laughing while Founder Ymir sits back, confused.

  
When the two had first met, she had been wary of Annie at first. She would look at her from afar, never getting close. But she soon warmed up to her, and now, well, Annie — lone wolf Annie — was building stuff with her! 

  
Eren isn't upset that the blonde took his place as Ymir's favourite. Nope, not at all. Not matter how much Freckled Ymir teases him about it while smiling. 

  
The past shifters had been surprised at the new addition, but let her in anyway. There were some other shifters that came in and out at times, with none of them staying long. But still. 

  
Annie looks at Ymir being swung around by a woman in a slightly revealing dress and says, a genuine smile coming across her face, "The walls aren't a bad place to live in."

  
Then Annie realizes something. She realized that Eren was the one that made all of those buildings and the giant fly in their trainee days. Needless to say, both of them had been panting on the sand from fighting, which Annie initiated. 

  
Freckled Ymir looms over her, asking in a blunt tone, "Are you both taking out your frustrations by fight—" 

  
Freckled Ymir soon finds herself on the ground, having been tripped by Annie. 

  
As Annie looks up onto the starry night, she starts to realize that she has truly come to love the walls. 

* * *

  
Memories. Memories. He felt like something was missing. 

  
It was perfectly tailored, the memories. But something was wrong. Something was missing. Something was gone. 

  
He also reflexively almost bites his hand, looks at a knife. He feels like his mind should be split in half, but it isn't. He feels like others around him are Devils. 

  
He doesn't know why. 

  
But Reiner knows something is missing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mièn tumblr is Cloudymooncake!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I know that Ymir only directly obeys Royal family members but because of that fact that Eren was nice to her, she makes an exception for him. You can also give me ideas for the next chapter(s). -moon


End file.
